


Flowerboy and Trash

by coralinejones



Category: IT, IT (2017), IT - Stephen King, It movie - Fandom, the loser’s club - Fandom
Genre: Cuddling, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Texting, also stanley can’t keep his eyes away from our dear billy, bev is amazing, cute af i guess, instagram posts, richie and eddie have a crush on each other but richie lives in cali, richie confesses his feelings, richie is suuuuper annoying but eddie lowkey loves it, texting on instagram
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-02-26 14:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13237989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralinejones/pseuds/coralinejones
Summary: Eddie posts pictures of flowers, Richie posts memes and blurry pictures of Beverly. They both start texting and some unexpected stuff happens.





	1. flowers in trash

Eddie was sitting on his bed, reading a book and feeling completely at peace.   
The light rain drumming into his windows was making it a pretty nice evening, the sunset outside coloring the skies a pretty mix of colors.   
Out of sudden, his phone lit up, signaling a notification. Someone messaged him on Instagram.   
A wave of curiosity shot through Eddie since he never got a message on Instagram before.   
He picked the phone up and unlocked it, revealing the message.   
It was from someone with the username 'number1trash', and Eddie immediately thought about how stupid that username was.   
Eddie didn't really know what made the person message him. His profile was strictly only pictures of flowers. That was it, only flowers. He decided that replying to the message couldn't do any harm. After all, he was feeling a bit bored.

 **number1trash:**  hey

 **flowersflowerflowers** : Hi. Do I know you?

Eddie bit his lip in anticipation, waiting for the reply.   
The other person sent one immediately, though.

 **number1trash:**  idk. i had your acc in my recommended profiles

 **flowersflowerflowers:**  And that's why you decided to message me?

 **number1trash:** yup  
**number1trash:**  i've never seen someone into flowers as much as you tbh

 **flowersflowerflowers:**  And that's why you messaged me?

 **number1trash:** why so many questions   
**number1trash:**  i clicked on your profile and just decided to message you without having a reason   
**number1trash:**  okay maybe i thought your profile pic was cute

 **flowersflowerflowers:**  Okay. Thanks, I guess?

 **number1trash:**  yur welcome my dear friend

Eddie rolled his eyes at that.

 **number1trash:** so  
**number1trash:** how r u?

Eddie didn't really know what to think about this conversation. Why would this person want to talk to him? Just because of his profile picture? What if this person was some creep...  
Eddie quickly clicked on the person's profile, to hopefully get more information about this mysterious guy. He had to be cautious.

The page was loading for a second and then the account and pictures finally appeared on the too bright screen of Eddie's phone. Eddie looked through the pictures.

(yup, this is indeed my edit. i'm sorry, i know it's shit, but i tried my best lmao)

Eddie raised his eyebrows at the mom joke, scoffing. This person seemed weird in some way, he seemed like the exact opposite of Eddie's friends. Not exactly the type of a person Eddie would hang out with. He seemed annoying and a bit obnoxious; his profile full of memes. Eddie knew he was overreacting and judging this person way too quickly, but whatever. The guy looked nice though, he also seemed to be the same age as Eddie. According to his profile picture, at least. If that was even him, though.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Is that you on the profile picture?

 **number1trash:** yup. cute right???

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I didn't say that.

 **number1trash:** chill , it was just a joke

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Your dog looks cute. I don't have any pets, sadly.

 **number1trash:** thanks  
**number1trash:** he's a great dog  
**number1trash:** how come u don't have any pets ? pets are awesome

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I'm allergic, my mom won't let me have one.

 **number1trash:** oh that sucks  
**number1trash:** im sorry

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It's okay, I don't really mind that much.

 **number1trash:** you're cute

 **flowersflowerflowers:** What?

 **number1trash:** your profile pic  
**number1trash:** it's cute

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh, thanks. You said that already, you know that, right?

 **number1trash:** yup  
**number1trash:** whats your name btw ? i guess its not E right ? lol

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Why do you ask?

 **number1trash:**  because im curious  
**number1trash:** and also u know my name  
**number1trash:**  so this is very unfair

 **flowersflowerflowers:**  Has anyone ever told you that you're annoying?

 **number1trash:**  oh my dear E, you have no idea

 **flowersflowerflowers:**  Eddie  
**flowersflowerflowers:** My name's Eddie.

 **number1trash:** now i can die happy , knowing your name !  
**number1trash:** it suits you

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Does it?

 **number1trash:** yup  
**number1trash:** btw how old r u ??  
**number1trash:** i don't want to hit on someone wayyy younger than me  
**number1trash:** because that'd be weird

 **flowersflowerflowers:** You know, this is becoming a bit weird. I don't really know why I should give you all these details about myself. I don't know you. You could be some creep or murderer.

 **number1trash:** that's funny

 **flowersflowerflowers:** What exactly is funny about my privacy?

 **number1trash:** that ur the one worrying about me being some weirdo while ur the one without any personal pics to prove ur a normal person , u just post flowers  
**number1trash:** im the one who should be worried about you being a pedo , i dont even know if thats really you on the profile pic  
**number1trash:** maybe ur a murderer who likes flowers a lot

Eddie chuckled at that. This guy may be an idiot, but he's also pretty funny.

(Eddie's insta, in case you were wondering. yup, also made by me)

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Fair enough.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** I'm 18. And for the record, you're not hitting on me. You're just making yourself look like some brainless dickhead.

 **number1trash:** i knew it!!!!!!  
**number1trash:** you can swear!!!

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It's funny how you think you know me just from annoying me for ten minutes and seeing pictures of flowers. You don't know me at all.

Eddie was getting a bit pissed at this point. Sure, it was kinda fun to talk to this boy, but he was just so annoying. Something about him made Eddie mad. He didn't know what exactly, though. Maybe it was the fact that Eddie actually enjoyed talking to him a bit, and also something about the boy was funny to him, and he was also cute, but Eddie would never admit that.

 **number1trash:** u know what ? i actually really like u  
**number1trash:** ur pretty cool and have some awesome comebacks   
**number1trash:** you're a bit rude but ualso look cute , so the rude replies are worth it

Eddie stared at his phone and felt his cheeks warming up. No! He was not gonna blush because of some asshole on the internet! Fuck that Richie guy, whoever he was! Who the fuck would tell someone on the internet that they liked them after only talking to them for half an hour?!

 **number1trash:** i meant it  
**number1trash:** you're cool

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Thanks, I guess...

 **number1trash:** im 18 too btw  
**number1trash:** just in case you were wondering  
**number1trash:** also i promise im not a murderer or a creep or anything like that

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Cool. What am I supposed to do with this info?

 **number1trash:** whatever u want

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Ugh  
**flowersflowerflowers:** I'm gonna go... I was just in the middle of a really interesting book, so...

 **number1trash:** ttyl?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe.

Eddie turned off his phone and sighed. Well, this was interesting and weird.

-

Eddie woke up early in the morning, his first class about to start in an hour.   
He immediately picked up his phone from a small bedside table and looked at the screen. No new notifications, no new messages.   
Eddie felt the feeling of disappointment.   
He thought Richie would text him. He thought he would see hundreds of annoying messages. But there was nothing.   
And Eddie absolutely hated how it made him feel; pretty disappointed.

The day went on and it was the last class at school. Eddie was sitting next to his friend Stanley, waiting for the class to begin.   
"Eddie, are you okay? You seem nervous." His friend Stanley asked, eying Eddie up and down, noticing his nervously bouncing foot and the tapping of the pen he was holding against the desk.   
Eddie shrugged.   
"Yes, why wouldn't I be? Everything's fine." Eddie replied way too quickly, sparkling Stan's curiosity.   
Stanley looked at Eddie and raised his eyebrow. Eddie looked at him and sighed, his cheeks getting a bit pink.   
"What?! Why do you look at me like this, I'm not lying!" Eddie protested but Stanley just kept staring at him, trying to get the truth out of him.   
"Okay, okay. God, why are you like this. I'm waiting for someone to text me, is that enough?"   
Stan nodded. "Someone you like?"   
Eddie blushed even more. "No, I don't really know this person, actually."   
Eddie thought about it,... why the hell was he reacting like this?! He didn't know Richie. At all.   
He just saw some pictures of him and talked to him for half an hour. He didn't know him! He wasn't supposed to blush when he was thinking about him.   
Sure, Richie looked cute. He really did. But that didn't change the fact that Eddie didn't know him.   
Stanley raised his eyebrows again.   
"And is it safe? Talking to a stranger on the internet?"   
Eddie shrugged. "Probably not. But honestly, Stan, everyone has friends on the internet. Also, I actually checked some of the profiles of the people who seem to know him, because they tagged him in pictures and stuff, and he isn't pretending to be someone else. He's just a normal guy my age. Ans he's funny, you know?"   
Stanley just rolled his eyes and sighed.   
"Just make sure that it's really him, Eddie." Eddie smiled and nodded.

The last class ended and Eddie finally arrived home, taking off his shoes and placing them neatly near the door before going up the stairs to his room and closing the door behind him.   
As he sat on his bed, he heard the notification sound, notifying him of a new message.   
Quickly, he took his phone out of his backpack and looked at the screen.

 **number1trash:** did u miss me??

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Nope.

 **number1trash:** hmmmm  
**number1trash:** you def did miss me  
**number1trash:** anyway how r u?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Pretty good. It's sunny outside, so that's nice.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** My friend Stan doesn't believe you. He thinks you're a creep.

 **number1trash:** i am offended !   
**number1trash:** me? a creep?

Eddie scoffed. This guy was unbelievable, was he unable to stop with the jokes or what?!

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh, shut the fuck up.

 **number1trash:** seriously tho  
**number1trash:** i swear im not a creep  
**number1trash:** tell stan that he can chill

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Sure, whatever.  
**flowersflowerflowers:** How are you?

 **number1trash:** bored? tired? hungry?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe you could pick only one?

 **number1trash:** nah

Eddie then decided to read a bit, which didn't last long since he fell asleep after a few minutes. School really drained the energy out of him that day.  
He woke up to the notification sound beeping without a stop. Again and again. Beep, beep, beep.   
He sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling even more tired, before looking at the screen of his phone and finding out that he fell asleep for an hour.   
He also had five messages from Richie.

 **number1trash:** so i have an idea  
**number1trash:** i think its a really good idea   
**number1trash:** wanna hear it?  
**number1trash:** are you ignoring me on purpose??? i aM HURT   
**number1trash:** ;(

Eddie rolled his eyes, something that he seemed to be doing a lot when he texted with Richie.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Sorry, I fell asleep.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** What idea did you get?

Richie replied immediately.

 **number1trash:** so i was thinking   
**number1trash:** that maybe we could video chat?  
**number1trash:** i mean, we don't have to if you don't want to  
**number1trash:** i just thought it'd be nice to actually see each other   
**number1trash:** also so you wouldn't have to be scared to death by the possibility of me being some pedo

Eddie stared at the messages and thought about it, getting anxious immediately.   
What if Richie wouldn't like him? Eddie wasn't as funny in person as he was trying to be online, or at least he thought so.   
What if Richie found him boring?

 **number1trash:** i know you read my messages   
**number1trash:** look , there's no reason to be nervous about this, trust me  
**number1trash:** but as i said , you dont have to do this if you dont want to

eddie sighed. Fuck it.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Okay. Why not, right?  
**flowersflowerflowers:** At least I'll know for sure that you're not a murderer or something.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** Do you have FaceTime, maybe?

 **number1trash:** yeah  
**number1trash:** can i call you there rn? if you wouldn't mind giving me your number so i could actually do it

Eddie gave Richie his number and waited anxiously.   
He couldn't help it, he was just really nervous about this whole thing.   
He was about to actually see richie.   
They were about to talk face to face, he couldn't believe it.

After five minutes, the phone screen lit up again with an incoming FaceTime call.   
Eddie took a deep breath and answered it.   
The screen loaded for a few seconds and then Richie's face finally appeared.   
And damn.   
The boy looked even cuter "in person" than he did on the pictures.   
Richie smiled brightly the exact moment he saw Eddie's face and waved his hand enthusiastically.   
Eddie smiled back and waved awkwardly. "Heyyyyyy, Eddie!!! You wouldn't believe how relieved I actually am to know that you're not just a murderer with a kink for flowers." Richie said, chuckling.   
Eddie laughed and rolled his eyes, smiling at the screen.   
He felt the sudden happiness that he was actually speaking to the boy. And it really was him!!   
He wasn't just some old dude pretending to be someone else, it was actually the boy from the pictures.   
"I could say the same thing." Eddie replied, taking in every feature of Richie's face.   
He had nice cheekbones, chapped lips and beautiful brown eyes.   
And then there was the best thing about the other boy; his curly hair.   
Richie smirked when Eddie didn't talk for way too long.   
"Like what you see, Eds?"   
Eddie blushed and looked away from the screen for a second.   
"Nope, you're ugly."   
Richie laughed at that. "Man, you're even fiercer in person."   
"And you're even prettier in person" Eddie blurted out on accident, covering his mouth with his hand.  
Richie looked a bit surprised by Eddie's unexpected confession, but that didn't stop him from smiling.   
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to say that." Eddie frantically apologized, his cheeks red.   
Richie just smiled, his cheeks a bit pink as well. "No need to apologize, I like compliments."   
Eddie just rolled his eyes again.   
"You're also more annoying in person."   
They both laughed at that.

Eddie laid in his bed, thinking about the hour long conversation he had with Richie.   
The actual Richie. He still couldn't believe it, it made him smile.   
Richie was just so nice and so funny and so... cute.   
Eddie shook his head. No, not this kind of thoughts. He didn't want them.   
He decided that he should apologize to Richie for being inappropriate and calling him pretty. Richie had a girlfriend and this just wasn't appropriate.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Hey, I really really enjoyed talking to you. You're really nice. :)

No, wait! He wanted to apologize!

 **number1trash:** eyyy i reaaaally liked talking to u too!!!

Fuck. It was hard for some reason.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Also, I feel like I should apologize for calling you pretty. I feel like that was not right, since you have a girlfriend and she wouldn't be happy about that.

 **number1trash:** what   
**number1trash:** girlfriend???

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah, the redhead on most of your pictures. She's pretty by the way, I bet you look cute together. :)

Eddie tried to be nice and polite about the whole situation, even though he was feeling way more jealous than he would like.

 **number1trash:** lmao  
**number1trash:** she's not my girlfriend

 **flowersflowerflowers:** What?

Eddie felt absolutely confused. Richie posted a lot of pictures of that girl, so he assumed they were dating.

 **number1trash:** the girl on the pics is not my gf  
**number1trash:** she's my best friend   
**number1trash:** her name's beverly   
**number1trash:** we've been best friends since we were kids  
**number1trash:** but we're def not dating and we never will

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh  
**flowersflowerflowers:** I'm so sorry. I just assumed you two were together because you post a lot of pictures with her. I'm sorry, I should have asked before assuming stuff.

 **number1trash:** nah it's okay eddie (:   
**number1trash:** no need to feel sorry or apologize   
**number1trash:** god you're so much nicer than me i dont deserve to be ur friend

 **flowersflowerflowers:** That's bullshit. You're nice too.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** Do you have a girlfriend, though? I know it probably sounds weird but I'm just genuinely curious.

 **number1trash:** "curious" suuure   
**number1trash:** jfc just admit that you want to ask me out already eds

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Not even in your dreams. You're too ugly for me.

 **number1trash:** ahhhhh he strikes again!! you wound me baby

Eddie blushed so hard at that nickname. No! Stop blushing! You're not into richie!

 **number1trash:** also, my dearest eddie  
**number1trash:** let me tell you a secret  
**number1trash:** im gay as fuck

Eddie stared at the screen, not knowing what to reply.  
Oh.  
Richie typed before Eddie could even come up with a response, though.

 **number1trash:** are you okay with that? with me being gay?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yes. Of course I'm okay with that, Richie. I'd be an asshole if I wasn't okay with it. Thank you for telling me. :)   
**flowersflowerflowers:** I'm really sorry if I made things awkward.

 **number1trash:** no worries (;

 **flowersflowerflowers:** So, do you have a boyfriend then?

 **number1trash:** well well well  
**number1trash:** are u still just curious or do u have a crush on me

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I don't have a crush on you!

 **number1trash:** then why do you keep asking about my love life huh

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Nevermind then. I was just trying to get to know you, that's all.

 **number1trash:** that's a lame excuse  
**number1trash:** i bet ur a shitty liar

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Why do I even talk to you. You're so annoying.

 **number1trash:** because you like talking to me

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe I do.  
**flowersflowerflowers:** But just a tiny bit.

 **number1trash:** suuure

-

So this is how it usually went; Eddie woke up early for school, his phone already filled with Richie's annoying messages, which weren't  _that_  annoying to Eddie and he secretly liked them, then he got through classes, went home and texted with Richie until he fell asleep.

Before they both knew it, they were texting for a year.

-

 **number1trash:** eds  
**number1trash:** eddie  
**number1trash:** guess what day it is todayyy

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Wednesday?

 **number1trash:** no  
**number1trash:** i can't believe u don't know  
**number1trash:** today is a very special day my dearest loveliest friend

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Ugh, stop with the nicknames.

 **number1trash:** it's our 1 year anniversary !!!!

 **flowersflowerflowers:** One year?!   
**flowersflowerflowers:** I can't believe it's been one year already.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** I've managed to tolerate your bullshit for a year already, wow.

 **number1trash:** you're a terrible liar

 **flowersflowerflowers:** How the fuck can you tell whether I'm lying or not? We're TEXTING.

 **number1trash:** because i know for a fact that you love me and the nicknames i give you eds

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe.

 **number1trash:** ohhh you do 10000000%

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Why are you always like this?

 **number1trash:** what can i say... im special

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Sure, you are. You're a special asshole.

 **number1trash:** YOUR special asshole <3

-

Eddie was sitting in the library with Stanley and Bill, who were too occupied with staring at each other, when he got another text from Richie.

 **number1trash:** ughhh finally home

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Bad day at school?

 **number1trash:** i guess

 **flowersflowerflowers:** What happened?

 **number1trash:** bev just told me that she's moving away from california

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh, I'm sorry. That sucks :(

 **number1trash:** it really fucking does

 **flowersflowerflowers:** When?

 **number1trash:** next week  
**number1trash:** im so mad   
**number1trash:** she's my only actual close friend and she just understands me you know??  
**number1trash:** idk what i'll do without her

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I'm sorry if this is taking it too far, since we never really met, but I just want you to know that I'm always here for you, okay? You can talk to me about anything. :)

 **number1trash:** thanks eddie   
**number1trash:** that means a lot

 **flowersflowerflowers:** No problem :)

 **number1trash:** you know what else sucks??

 **flowersflowerflowers:** What?

 **number1trash:** that u don't live closer   
**number1trash:** because i'd date you in a heartbeat   
**number1trash:** i mean , i'd obviously ask u out first

Eddie stared at the messages, feeling his heart beat a bit faster.   
Fuck, he did like Richie.   
They'd basically been texting every day for a year and it just... became so normal? Like an everyday thing?   
He really fucking liked Richie.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Do you mean it?   
**flowersflowerflowers:** Or are you just fucking with me right now?

 **number1trash:** i mean it  
**number1trash:** ur so damn cute and nice and kind  
**number1trash:** and i really like you  
**number1trash:** is that weird? you know, since we never really met irl

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh  
**flowersflowerflowers:** Thank you, Richie.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** And I don't think it's weird. We FaceTimed a few times, so we kind of talked face to face, right?

 **number1trash:** oh yeah you're right

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I like you too, btw.

 **number1trash:** you do??  
**number1trash:** are you sure?  
**number1trash:** because you're way too good for me  
**number1trash:** i'm just annoying

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Shut up. You're amazing.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** And really pretty.   
**flowersflowerflowers:** I mean it. You just always make me laugh and make my days better with your dumb jokes. I look forward to your texts every damn day. And I really like your face and your curly hair.

 **number1trash:** oh my dear eds , sounds like you have a crush on me

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh fuck off. Don't laugh at me. Wasn't that obvious when I said that I like you too?

 **number1trash:** nope not really

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Only you would laugh at the person who has a crush on you. Of fucking course.

 **number1trash:** so we both have crushes on each other huh?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah. Too bad you don't live here :/ There's this really cool cinema and we would go on a date there and you'd buy me popcorn. And maybe, just maybe, we would make out in your car before you'd drive me home.

 **number1trash:**  fuck, now not living closer sucks even more   
**number1trash:** alsoi'd buy you the biggest popcorn ever

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It would be really nice (: Maybe one day, you never know.

 **number1trash:** istg i'll pray every night if it means i get to see your cute ass in person

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh shut up.

 **number1trash:** but you're cute and i mean it

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I look like an idiot because of you. I'm blushing while sitting next to my friends at the library.

 **number1trash:** shh i bet you look even cuter

And now Eddie was blushing even more.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I gotta go, so talk to you later? My friends don't like how I only stare at my phone instead of helping them with homework.

 **number1trash:** you're not doing homework just so you could text with me ??? i'm flattered

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Bye, Richie :)

-

Eddie woke up the next morning to the familiar sound of his phone beeping. It was a nice Saturday and he decided to sleep in.

 **number1trash:** heyyyy eds  
**number1trash:** you ignored my messages last night

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I didn't ignore them, I fell asleep.

 **number1trash:** fair enough ,it was 3am after all

 **flowersflowerflowers:** How are you?

 **number1trash:** better (:   
**number1trash:** Bev's moving to the new town this week instead of the next week  
**number1trash:** she's gonna live at her aunt's house

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Oh, so she's moving sooner?

 **number1trash:** yeah, but he aunt's reallyyy nice and offered me that i could go with bev and stay at their house for some time, so im gonna stay with her for a week in the new shitty town until she finds some cool friends at her new school, so she wouldn't have to be alone and so that we can spend a bit more time together

 **flowersflowerflowers:** That's great, Richie! :) What about school, though? I mean, you'll be gone for a week?

 **number1trash:** i don't think that's gonna be a problem

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Cool, that's really great! I'm happy for you!   
**flowersflowerflowers:** Also say hi to Beverly from me! :) I bet she's really happy that you're going with her. Moving to a new town and new school and everything must be hard. :/

 **number1trash:** i bet   
**number1trash:** bev says hi   
**number1trash:** she also looked at your profile pic and thinks that you're the cutest person she's ever seen

Eddie smiled to himself and took his book from his bedside table, reading a few pages before getting out of bed to get something to eat.

Richie texted him again at night just as he was eating dinner.

 **number1trash:** have you seen that one video with the funny russian singer ???  
**number1trash:** it's so funny i'm dying from laughter over here

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Nope, I don't think I did.

 **number1trash:** also the one video with the cat running into a glass door??  
**number1trash:** the best video on the whole internet

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Haha, yeah. I've seen that one.

 **number1trash:** eddie   
**number1trash:** eds  
**number1trash:** eddieeeeee

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yes?

 **number1trash:** im so gay for you  
**number1trash:** like im normally 100% gay but for u im like 10000000000% gay   
**number1trash:** let's be the gayest couple ever

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Richie, are you drunk?

 **number1trash:** guilty as charged lmao   
**number1trash:** bev got herself and me drunk  
**number1trash:** why can't we date eds

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Because you live in California and that's too far away.

 **number1trash:** not faiiiiiir  
**number1trash:** i wanna date you so bad   
**number1trash:** i just want to hold u in my arms and make u the happiest

Eddie stared at the messages for too long, feeling butterflies in his stomach. He knew that Richie was just saying that because he was drunk, but maybe he really meant it... He had a crush on him as well, after all.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I want that too.

 **number1trash:** i would call u my boyfriend in front of everyone so they'd know how much i love you  
**number1trash:** n i'd also call u baby and sweetheart because i know u would then blush and you look very pretty when u blush

 **flowersflowerflowers:** You love me?

Eddie's heart started to beat a bit faster.

 **number1trash:** im pretty sure i'd fall in love with u the moment i'd see you in person irl for the first time  
**number1trash:** so u better get ur cute ass over here so i can buy you infinite amounts of flowers and make out with u in my car

Eddie smiled to himself and turned off his phone. Richie was too drunk, it was better to stop before he would text or send something he would regret in the morning.

-

When Richie didn't send a message the whole Sunday morning Eddie got a bit worried. What if Richie accidentally poisoned himself by drinking too much?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Richie, is everything okay?   
**flowersflowerflowers:** Did you even survive yesterday?

 **number1trash:** sorry for not texting u eds  
**number1trash:** i just woke up and i feel like dying my head hurts like hell save me   
**number1trash:** im so sorry for yesterday

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It's okay, Richie. You were just drunk.

 **number1trash:** i just went through the texts i sent u and im so so sorry if i made you uncomfortable   
**number1trash:** i shouldn't have said any of that

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It's really okay, no worries. :)

 **number1trash:** would it make you uncomfortable if i told u that i meant it?   
**number1trash:** that i meant everything i said?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** No, I definitely wouldn't mind. I might not say it, but I think about the same things too. I really like you, Richie. I wish we could actually hang out. Even if we actually ended up being just friends, I'd really like that.

 **number1trash:** me too eddie   
**number1trash:** so im actually gonna head to the airport with bev later today   
**number1trash:** we still have a ton of things to pack, you know all her stuff and everything since she's moving   
**number1trash:** so i won't really be able to text you too much but i'll def let u know before and after the flight okay?

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah, of course. Thanks, Richie :) Have a safe flight!

 **number1trash:** thanks (:   
**number1trash:** bev for some reason decided that she wants to go to the new school tomorrow instead of going the next week, since it's monday tomorrow and she says she'll have a lot of time to get used to her new room today when we get there, so i'll have a lot of free time to text you and annoy u tomorrow when she's at school ;)

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Can't wait until you send me memes while I'm in math class. Bye, Richie :) <3

 **number1trash:** awwwww a heart   
**number1trash:** eddie baby you're the cutest

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I won't even reply to that.

 **number1trash:** yeah yeah love u too

-

 **number1trash:** we just landed  
**number1trash:** the flight was cool but the weather here's shitty im not the biggest fan of rain

 **flowersflowerflowers:** It's raining here too :/

 **number1trash:** bev's aunt's gonna pick us up any moment now and then i'll have to help bev unpack all her stuff so that's gonna be a lot of "fun"   
**number1trash:** im already exhausted so i'll go to bed right after i help her unpack and text u tomorrow okay? :)

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Okay :)

-

Eddie woke up early the next day. It was Monday and he had to get to school in an hour. He knew Richie was still probably sleeping after the exhausting flight, so he decided not to text him.   
After eating breakfast and doing all the necessary morning stuff, he made his way to school and right into his first class which was History.   
He sat down next to Stanley and smiled at him.   
"How was your date with Bill yesterday?"   
Stanley started blushing immediately, looking at his hands nervously when replying to Eddie.   
"It went really well. Bill bought me dinner and then took me to his place to watch a movie."   
"And then you went home?" Eddie teased.   
Stanley blushed even more and nervously tugged on the collar of his shirt.   
Eddie chuckled at that. "Oh, come on, Stanley. We're best friends and best friends talk about this stuff."   
Stanley looked at him and smiled a bit. "Okay, fine. I might have spent the night with him..."  
"That's great, Stan! I'm so happy for you both! I remember how you wouldn't shut up about how pretty he is and then he finally asked you out after you stared at him for like,... two months? Was it two months?" Eddie smiled. "Seriously, I'm really happy for you. You look really cute together."   
Stanley smiled back. "Thanks, Eddie. It means a lot, you know? Your support."   
Eddie smiled happily and hugged his friend for a few seconds.   
"Alright class, please get to your seats!" The teacher announced while walking into the classroom and closing the door behind her, a girl following her.   
Eddie looked away from Stan, the girl getting his attention. She looked so familiar, but Eddie just couldn't remember where he had seen her before.   
Was it—, no that couldn't possibly be...  
"Class, I'd like you to meet your new classmate. She came here all the way from California. Miss Marsh, please tell us something about yourself." The teacher said, smiling at the girl kindly.   
"Hey, I'm Beverly Marsh. I used to live in California but now I live here at my aunt's house. I really like music and art, I guess?" The girl said and smiled hesitantly at everyone in the classroom.   
Eddie felt as if his heart had stopped beating, feeling light headed.   
Was this just a dream?  
The girl standing in front of his class was Beverly, Richie's best friend.   
The one girl he knew from Richie's pictures. Standing in front of him, real. With her curly red hair, cute dress and a backpack decorated with tons of pins and patches.   
But if Beverly was here in Derry,... then that meant—.  
Richie was in Derry too.


	2. roses and rainbows

"I seriously have no idea what to do, Stan!" Eddie whined and hid his face in his sweater-covered hands.  
Stanley, who was sitting across from him at their usual lunch table, sighed and patted Eddie's shoulder.  
"I think you should meet him." Stanley's reply got an eye roll from Eddie.  
"That's easy for you to say! What if he doesn't like me? I mean, I'm definitely way shorter in person. Also I'm boring. Stanley, he definitely won't like me."  
Eddie continued with the self-doubting and hid his face again. Stanley looked up to the ceiling, as if he was asking some higher power to get him out of this endless situation, and then patted Eddie's shoulder again.  
"That's bullshit and you know it, Eddie. I think you're worried about something else."  
Eddie looked up from his hands and raised his eyebrows.  
"What do you mean by that?"  
Stanley shrugged. "I just think that you're worried you won't like him. You're worried that after all the love essays you sent him, he won't be the Richie you created in your head."  
Eddie just stared at him, blinking a few times. Stanley smiled victoriously, because hell yes, he just solved the whole thing. It wasn't like he didn't want to help his best friend, he really wanted to help him and listen to him, but it was just that... when Eddie started talking, usually about something that bothered him or something he couldn't really figure out, he wasn't able to stop; he could go on and on for hours.  
And Stanley just wasn't capable of surviving that.  
"How come you always figure everything out?" Eddie asked, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his rainbow sweater.  
He felt awkward for overreacting and being so dramatic about the whole situation which turned out to actually have a very simple solution; meeting Richie.  
Stanley smiled. "I guess I just know you too well."  
Eddie smiled back and nodded, thinking for a second.  
"You know what? I'm gonna find Beverly and talk to her. And then I'm gonna meet Richie, because I won't let the anxiety stop me!" Eddie stated his plan proudly, and way too loudly for Stan's liking, and stood up from the table, ready to go find Beverly.  
"Good luck, Eddie." Stanley chuckled, taking his favorite book out of his backpack after waving at Eddie and seeing him leave the school cafeteria.  
His phone beeped before he could even open the book.

 **bill <3:** so? is he gonna talk to him?

 **stanley:** it looks like he might do it, I really hope he will.

 **bill <3:** it would be a shame if he didn't even say hi  
**bill <3:** things like this don't happen everyday

 **stanley:** yeah...  
**stanley:** how do you feel? is it getting better?

Bill had been stuck inside his house, mainly his bedroom, since their date on Sunday, because he got sick. It was just a cold, but damn, did he look terrible when Stanley visited him.

 **bill <3:** yeah, i guess it is  
**bill <3:** my head doesn't hurt anymore so that's good

 **stanley:** good, get well soon!  <3  
**stanley:** so that we can see each other again and go to the cinema like you wanted

 **bill <3:** you know that you don't have to go see this horror movie with me if you don't want to  
**bill <3:** we can do something else, so you wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable, i would be okay with that as well

 **stanley:** it's okay, i want to go see it with you because i know how excited you were when the trailer came out

 **bill <3:** stan you're honestly the best boyfriend

 **stanley:** boyfriend?

 **bill <3:** yeah, i mean, only if you want to  
**bill <3:** if you're not ready for that yet or if what we had was just a one night thing, then that's okay as well

 **stanley:** no  
**stanley:** i'd love to be your boyfriend

 **bill <3:** cool :) i’d love to be your boyfriend too  
**bill <3:** have a nice day at school! <3

 

Eddie walked out of the cafeteria and looked around. Well, finding Beverly was gonna be pretty hard, she could be literally anywhere. Eddie sighed and rubbed his temples. He felt a bit tired and the unnecessary stress wasn't helping.

"Flower boy?" A voice behind him asked hesitantly.  
Eddie turned around, now facing the pretty red-haired girl, and blushed at the nickname.  
Had Richie called him 'flower boy' in front of Beverly?  
Beverly stared at him curiously, seeming a bit lost in thought as she eyed Eddie up and down. Her face suddenly lit up and she smiled widely. "Oh my god! It really is you! What the fuck, Richie's gonna have a heart attack!"  
She basically launched herself on Eddie, hugging him tightly.  
Eddie laughed at her reaction, unable to form any words, the whole situation happening too quickly for him to react to it.  
She stepped away from him, her hands still placed on his shoulders, and smiled happily.  
"I can't believe this! This is crazy. My god, you're even cuter in person."  
Eddie blushed even more.  
"I was just looking for you, actually. And trust me, I almost had a heart attack as well this morning when you walked into history class." Beverly chuckled.  
"I can't believe I didn't notice you there!"  
"It's okay, you still found me." Eddie smiled at her.  
"Maaan, Richie's been gushing about you nonstop! I can't believe you two fuckers are this lucky! You wanna meet him, right?"  
She asked, Eddie feeling the stress crawl back immediately. He nodded slowly.  
"Yeah, I really want to, it's just that..."  
"What?"  
"I don't know. I'm just,... I'm just nervous, you know?"  
Beverly smiled encouragingly, wrapping her arm around Eddie's shoulders.  
"Oh come on, it's gonna go well and it's gonna be the best fucking thing. I can't wait to see Richie's expression when he sees you."  
Eddie smiled. He was getting excited.  
After all, he liked Richie a lot.  
He had never thought they would get the chance to meet in real life, ever. It really felt surreal.  
He really really wanted to meet him, though.  
Suddenly, the bell rang; announcing the end of lunch break.  
Beverly sighed. "What about we meet up after school? My aunt's house is a ten minute walk from here, so we could go together and you'd meet Richie and you two lovebirds could maybe plan a date or something, sounds good?"  
Eddie nodded and smiled happily.  
Beverly gave out this nice friendly vibe that made his anxiety almost disappear. He liked her.  
"We could meet in front of school? Under that one huge tree?"  
Beverly nodded, raising her hand for a high five and smiling. Eddie laughed, high fiving her, before heading to his next class that was about to start soon.  
"See you there, flower boy!" She called after Eddie, making him chuckle.  
He had a feeling they could become very good friends.

Eddie sat down to his usual desk, taking his phone out of his backpack since he still had a few minutes before the class would start.  
The screen lit up with a lot of messages from Richie which made Eddie realize that he completely forgot to text him as he promised.

 **number1trash:** good morniiiing eds  
**number1trash:** bev just left for school so im bored  
**number1trash:** have u seen that one weird video with the kazoo kid ??? don't watch it it's too creepy  
**number1trash:** how's school ? hope ur not too tired and everything's going well for u  
**number1trash:** eddieee come on im bored talk to me  
**number1trash:** bev just texted me saying that it's not as bad as she thought it would be  
**number1trash:** can i send u that one promised meme? pleaaase

Eddie chuckled and smiled to himself. He liked Richie so much. No one could ever be as annoying as him, it was amazing.

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Hey. Sorry, I had some stuff to do at school and forgot to check my phone.

 **number1trash:** ohhh so u are alive !  
**number1trash:** bev just texted me that she has a surprise for me  
**number1trash:** any ideas what the surprise could be???

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Nope

 **number1trash:** hmmmm  
**number1trash:** i miss you

 **flowersflowerflowers:** But we're talking to each other right now?

 **number1trash:** yeah but that's different than talking in person  
**number1trash:** sorry im just feeling a bit lonely today that's all

 **flowersflowerflowers:** I'm sorry :/ I'm here for you, if you need to talk or anything.

 **number1trash:** i know, thank u :)

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Look, I gotta go now; class is starting. But I'll definitely text you later, okay? :) I'm sure the surprise from Beverly will be really cool.

 **number1trash:** ughhhhh i miss u already

 **flowersflowerflowers:** You always say that.

 **number1trash:** because it's always true

 **flowersflowerflowers:** You can still send me memes if it helps you feel better? I'll look at them later, I promise :)

 **number1trash:** eddie

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah?

 **number1trash:** you're the most amazing person ever

And here we go, Eddie was blushing again. He absolutely couldn't wait to meet Richie!

 **flowersflowerflowers:** :) Thank you, Richie.  
 **flowersflowerflowers:** You're pretty amazing too.

 **number1trash:** ohhhh did u just call me pretty

 **flowersflowerflowers:** No, I didn't?  
 **flowersflowerflowers:** But I still think that you're pretty.

 **number1trash:** oh baby you make me blush

 **flowersflowerflowers:** And you make me cringe a lot.

 **number1trash:** liarrr

 **flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe (:

 

The last class went by surprisingly fast.  
When the bell rang, signaling the end of class, Eddie quickly packed all his stuff and almost ran outside to meet Beverly.  
He just felt so excited, he absolutely couldn't wait to meet his annoying friend!  
Beverly was already outside, leaning on the huge tree and smoking a cigarette.  
Eddie walked up to her and scrunched his nose.  
Beverly chuckled, Eddie looked so cute.  
"I won't smoke in front of you if it makes you feel uncomfortable."  
Eddie shook his head. "It's okay."  
"Ready to meet the love of your life?"  
Eddie smacked her shoulder lightly, blushing. "Sorry, sorry. I know, you're not dating. Yet." Eddie blushed even more and Beverly started laughing.  
"Beverly, it's not funny!" Eddie protested but laughed as well anyway.  
"I'm sorry, but this is seriously like the plot of some romantic movie you see on TV. Nevermind, let's go! Richie's waiting for us! I'm so excited to see his reaction, I have to film the whole thing!"

As Beverly promised, the walk to her aunt's house took them only around ten minutes.  
She spent the whole ten minutes telling Eddie about all the embarrassing stuff that had happened to Richie.  
Like the one time he got so high he ordered twenty pizzas and then cried in front of the pizza delivery boy because he didn't have enough money.  
Or the one time he challenged some asshole from their school to a cake eating contest and ate so many cakes he almost passed out.  
And honestly, with every new story Beverly told him, Eddie felt like he was falling for Richie even more.  
By the time they arrived at Beverly's house, they were both dying from laughter.  
Beverly smiled happily and looked at her aunt's house.  
"So, how are we gonna do this? I suppose you don't have a huge box with you? So I could wrap you up like a gift?"  
Eddie laughed. "No, I sadly don't bring a huge box around with me. Maybe I could just walk in with you? And say hi? Like a normal person?" Beverly shrugged.  
"Yeah, I guess we could do that."  
They both walked up to the main door, ready to unlock it and walk inside. Before they could even do anything, the door swung open and Richie stood behind it, wearing pajamas with tiny rainbows all over them, his hair messy and a glass of cola in his hand.  
"Ha! I knew you would find a boyfriend and cheat on me right on the first day! I am wounded and betrayed, Bev! Wounded and betrayed! How dare you!" Richie whined, faking the utter shock and betrayal in his voice while also looking like he was about to burst out laughing any second.  
Beverly just stood there, a smirk on her face, waiting for Richie to realize who was standing next to her.  
Eddie stared at him in absolute awe. He was so beautiful. Every doubt Eddie had this morning suddenly seemed stupid. Richie was even better than what Eddie imagined.  
Richie suddenly locked eyes with him for the first time and stopped talking, his eyes widening.  
Beverly grinned, her phone in her hand already, filming the whole scene in front of her.  
Eddie smiled happily. "Hi, trash boy."  
Richie laughed happily, wrapping his arms around Eddie and pulling him in for a tight hug immediately.  
"Beverly, why did you tell him about the nickname?!" He mumbled into Eddie's shoulder, still hugging him.  
Eddie buried his face into Richie's chest, caressing his back.  
This felt so good, so right. As if they belonged together.  
Richie pulled Eddie away just enough to look at his face, looking like he might cry at any moment with his cheeks a bit pink.  
"How did you get here?!"  
Eddie smiled, also on the verge of tears from all the happiness he was feeling.  
"I live here, dumbass."  
Richie laughed and pulled Eddie back into a hug.  
"This officially wins the award for the best fucking surprise ever. I can't believe this! Is this even real? Maybe I died and somehow got to Heaven."  
Eddie pulled away from him, looking the happiest he had ever been.  
"You going to Heaven? With your annoying behavior? You know that's unlikely, Richie." Eddie joked, a playful smirk on his face.  
Beverly laughed. "Ohhhh, he just got you good, Rich!"  
Richie looked at Eddie with a genuine smile on his face and ruffled his hair, getting an eye roll from the smaller boy.  
"You're so incredibly cute, flower boy. I would kiss you if I could."  
Eddie blushed and swatted Richie's hand away from his hair.  
"I hate nicknames, you know that. Also, you can, so just shut up and kiss me already."  
"No, wait! I don't wanna see this, let me leave first!" Beverly shouted, closing the main door behind her and running up the stairs to her bedroom.  
The two boys laughed and hugged again, Richie resting his chin on top of Eddie's head.  
"Did you mean it? Can I kiss you?"  
Eddie smiled into Richie's chest and nodded. Richie pulled away slowly, only to bow his head down and lightly brush his lips against Eddie's. Eddie reacted quickly, grabbing Richie by his t-shirt, pulling him closer and kissing him. Richie smiled into the kiss, his hand cupping Eddie's cheek and his other arm wrapped around his waist.  
Eddie pulled away after a longer five seconds, absolutely beaming, and pecked Richie's cheek. Richie slid his arm down from Eddie's waist only to take his hand and interlock their fingers.  
"So, what do you say about a date? I could pick you up tonight and we could maybe go to the cinema? Bev's aunt has this cool smaller truck and she will definitely let me borrow it."  
Eddie nodded his head, staring into Richie's eyes and thinking about how lucky they were to have this amazing chance to be together.  
Richie smiled happily and kissed the top of Eddie's hand.  
"I should probably go now, Richie. Before my mother gets worried. I can't wait for our date, though."  
Richie pouted and wrapped his arms around Eddie, pulling him against his chest again.  
"What if I won’t let you go?"  
Eddie chuckled and lightly pushed his hand against the taller boy's chest.  
"Then my mother's gonna be worried about me and won't let me go out tonight."  
Richie sighed and let Eddie out of his embrace, smiling at him.  
"Okay, fine. I will see you tonight then. And I'll  buy you the biggest popcorn."  
Eddie nodded and pecked Richie's lips quickly before walking out the door, leaving Beverly's house and an absolutely happy Richie inside it.  
He missed him already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! I just wanted to say how much the positive feedback surprised me because I honestly thought no one would really like this story. So, THANK YOU so much for all the kudos and nice comments, they seriously mean a lot to me!! <3  
> Also, I decided to write more than just two chapters for this story (hope you’re okay with that), because I like the characters and I’d like to write more about them.  
> I’ll try to post the next chapter asap, just please keep in mind that I have a lot of stuff at school at the moment, so it might always take me some time before I update. :)  
> Thank you for all the positive support/feedback and especially for reading this story! <3 have a beautiful day!


	3. Rose and love

Richie was sitting on the carpet of Beverly's bedroom, his back against her bed and his eyes closed, listening to the music that was blasting from his phone.   
Beverly was going through her closet, which she now shared with Richie, trying to find some nice clothes for him to wear to his date with Eddie.   
"What about this?"   
Richie opened his eyes and looked at the hoodie she was holding in front of him.   
"No, this is the worst one."   
"How is this the worst one?!"   
"I don't know, I just don't like this hoodie." Beverly sighed. This had been going for an hour and she had enough already.   
"Fine, I'll find something else. Is it really that important to pick the 'best outfit ever'?" She asked, mimicking Richie's voice.   
Richie rolled his eyes.   
"I want to make a good first impression, so yes?"   
"What the fuck are you talking about? You already had your chance to make a good first impression. I mean, pajamas wasn't probably the best choice, but Eddie seemed not to really care, you know? You're taking this way too seriously."   
"Should I just wear my pajamas then?"   
"No! Wait, would you actually do that? As a bet?" Beverly looked at him with a mischievous look on her face. Richie always agreed to the weirdest bets.   
Richie shrugged.   
"Maybe. But not on the first date, maybe on the second one."   
Beverly chuckled and went back to going through the closet.   
"I'll remember that and make you wear the pajamas to your second date then."   
Richie's phone beeped.

**flowersflowerflowers:** Hey :)

**number1trash:** hi (:

**flowersflowerflowers:** I just wanted to let you know that I'm really looking forward to our date tonight.

**number1trash:** me too !! it's gonna be great  
 **number1trash:** how much would u hate me if i wore my pajamas?

**flowersflowerflowers:** Wait, what?

**number1trash:** my pajamas. as a bet  
 **number1trash:** it wouldn't be THAT bad right?

**flowersflowerflowers:** You'd be cold, though. It's really windy outside. I don't want you to get ill.

"Beverly!! Listen to this! Are you serious, he's the nicest and most amazing person I've ever met! Listen! I texted him about the bet; if I could wear my pajamas, right? And I was expecting him to disagree with me or something but no! Look at what he replied!" Richie raised his arm with his phone to show the conversation to Beverly, basically shoving the phone into her face.   
Beverly took a step towards him and read Eddie's messages, smiling.   
"Awww, he's so cute! You better not mess this up, Rich. You're never gonna find anyone like him ever again. He's cute but he also tolerates your bullshit and actually likes your jokes! That's a miracle, Richie!" Beverly joked.   
Richie smiled to himself.   
"I know, he's perfect, Bev. He's absolutely perfect. I think I love him."   
Beverly chuckled and sat down next to Richie on the carpet, patting his knee. Richie sometimes needed some reassurance too, even if he didn't look like it.  
"Everything's gonna work out perfectly, trust me. Rich, the boy's head over heels for you, it's so obvious."   
Richie looked at her, a bit surprised.   
"Really?"   
Beverly nodded and smiled.   
"Yes, really. The way he looks at you, maan I wish someone would look at me like that. He looks at you as if you were his entire world. And that's just after meeting you for the first time! And people still don't believe in 'love at first sight', huh?"   
Richie smiled to himself again and rested his head on Beverly's shoulder.   
"I wish I could just wrap my arms around him and never let him go; just hug him forever and make him the happiest and the most loved." "Aww."   
Richie chuckled and smacked her arm.   
"Don't laugh at me, Bev. I'm in love, okay???" Beverly nodded, keeping herself from laughing. "Okay, okay. Sorry. It's just so weird to see you like this, all soft and in love."   
Richie scoffed, faking a pout.   
"You're such a bad friend!"   
Beverly laughed and wrapped her arms around him.   
"I know, the worst friend, right?"   
Richie nodded, laughing as well now and hugging her back.   
Beverly climbed out of Richie's embrace, stood up and went back to searching the closet. "Now, now. You shouldn't keep you lover waiting. Text him back."   
Richie smiled and looked back at the messages.

  
**number1trash:** i won't wear the pajamas then  
 **number1trash:** i wouldn't be able to kiss u if i got sick after all

**flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah, and that would suck.

**number1trash:** well... sucking could be an option as well

**flowersflowerflowers:** Noo, shut up, Richie.

**number1trash:** okay dont tell me that thought didn't excite u at least a bit

**flowersflowerflowers:** I mean, it made me laugh?

**number1trash:** at least something then

**flowersflowerflowers:** Is there ever going to be a day when you won't make inappropriate jokes? Or is it too much to ask?

**number1trash:** definitely too much to ask

**flowersflowerflowers:** Would you stop making them if I kissed you?

**number1trash:** now that, my dear eds, is what i call a perfect offer !

**flowersflowerflowers:** Okay, any chance you could possibly stop calling me Eds as well? You know how much I hate that nickname.

**number1trash:** liiiiiar you love that nickname

**flowersflowerflowers:** Not enough.

**number1trash:** were u serious about the kiss??

**flowersflowerflowers:** Yeah, of course I was.

**number1trash:** cool  
 **number1trash:** can you text me your address please? so i could pick u up :)

**flowersflowerflowers:** At 7pm?

**number1trash:** 6pm?

**flowersflowerflowers:** Why 6pm?

**number1trash:** because i can't wait until 7 to meet you, that's too long

**flowersflowerflowers:** Fine, 6pm it is then.

**number1trash:** yayyyyyy

**flowersflowerflowers:** Why do I even talk to you?

**number1trash:** hmmm let's see  
 **number1trash:** because you love my face? also as you said 'my amazing curly hair', you also love my jokes but you'd never admit it.... and the list just goes on and on and on and on

**flowersflowerflowers:** Oh, shut up.

**number1trash:** was i right tho?

**flowersflowerflowers:** Maybe...

**number1trash:** ;)

-

Eddie looked out the window of his bedroom at exactly 6pm, spotting Richie outside immediately.  
The tall boy was leaning against the borrowed yellow truck, a cigarette in his right hand and the other hand hidden behind his back.   
Smiling to himself, Eddie left his room and ran down the stairs, coming up with a lie to tell his mother; that he was just going to visit Stan to work on a biology project.   
He left the house, happily walked up to the car and smiled at Richie who just stubbed out the cigarette with his sneaker.   
"Hi, Richie."   
"Hey, Eddie." Richie smiled a bit nervously at the boy in front of him.   
"I'm honestly surprised you're here on time."  
"What can I say? I'm just perfect."   
They both chuckled, Richie still standing with one of his hands behind his back.   
"What are you hiding there?" Eddie asked curiously.   
Richie smiled and reached out his arm towards Eddie, a pretty light pink rose appearing in front of him in Richie's shaking hand.   
Was he really so nervous about their date?   
"I realized that I don't really know your favorite flower, so I just kinda hoped you like roses..."   
Richie explained hesitantly.   
Eddie smiled happily, his cheeks red, and took the rose, examining it in awe.   
Richie bought him a rose! A beautiful rose! This was the most wonderful thing ever!   
"It's absolutely beautiful, Richie. Thank you so much, this is amazing. I love it."   
Eddie leaned in and kissed Richie's cheek before wrapping his arms around him and hugging him, careful not to crush the flower between them.   
Richie noticeably relaxed in Eddie's arms and pulled him closer by wrapping an arm around his waist.   
And so they stood there, in the dark street in the very quiet neighborhood, holding on to each other and feeling completely at peace.  
"I'm so happy we're together, Richie. I still can't believe it." Eddie mumbled into Richie's chest.   
Richie hummed a response and ruffled Eddie's hair before pulling away from him, smiling. Eddie giggled and swatted Richie's hand away.   
"Ready to go? I bought the cinema tickets already. We're gonna see your favorite movie." Richie asked and opened the car door for Eddie.   
"How do you know my favorite movie?"  
"I somehow found Stan's account on instagram, so I messaged him and asked."   
Eddie stared at Richie in surprise.   
"You asked Stan?"  
"Yeah. Is that okay?"  
Was Richie even real? What exactly did Eddie do to be this lucky and meet someone as amazing as him?  
"Can I kiss you right now?" Eddie asked, a very surprised expression appearing on Richie's face as he nodded quickly.   
Eddie, who was absolutely beaming, pulled Richie closer by grabbing his jacket and kissed him.   
Richie reacted quickly; wrapping and arm around Eddie's shoulder and cupping his jaw with his hand to pull him even closer.   
When they pulled away to catch their breath, they were both smiling widely.   
"We should probably go, the movie starts soon."   
Eddie nodded and got inside the car, ready to watch his favorite movie with Richie.

-

"No, you don't understand, she loved him okay!"   
"Eds, my beautiful dumb friend, that guy was one hundred percent gay, it doesn't matter if she loved him."  
"That's just your theory." Eddie protested.   
He was not gonna lose an argument about his favorite movie with Richie, who had seen it for the first time and clearly didn't understand it. They decided to sit and chat inside the car since it had started raining outside when they left the cinema.   
So they just sat inside the warm car on the spacious leather backseat, talking about the movie.   
The movie that Richie clearly misunderstood. Richie chuckled at Eddie's pout and pulled him closer, wrapping his arms around him tightly and letting him rest his head on his shoulder. "Okay, okay. She loved him and he totally wasn't gay." Richie stated with a hint of irony, giving up and letting the other boy win the argument.   
Eddie suddenly chuckled, staring up at Richie, taking his hand and interlocking their fingers. "Wait, did you have a crush on him?"   
“Don't laugh at me, Eds! Everyone had a crush on young Harrison Ford!"   
“Uh-huh."   
“Come on! Don’t tell me you didn't find him at least a bit cute?"   
“Cuter than me?" Eddie teased with a smirk on his face, still staring up at Richie.   
Richie smiled and kissed Eddie's pink cheek. "Nope, no one is cuter than you."   
He kissed his other cheek. And then his nose. And his forehead.   
Eddie giggled and closed his eyes, letting Richie leave small kisses all over his face. "You're so damn cute, Eds."   
“Don't call me that."   
“Cute?"   
Eddie glared at him but his face quickly softened when Richie kissed his cheek again, way too close to his lips.   
“You know I don't like when you call me Eds." "You love it, just admit it."   
Eddie smiled and rested his small hand on Richie's cheek.   
“Kiss me, please?"   
Richie smiled happily and pulled Eddie closer, locking their lips quickly. It was a short kiss but it was enough for them at the moment.   
“We should probably drive back. It's getting late."   
Richie nodded and caressed the smaller boy's cheek.   
“The cutest."

-

The drive back to Beverly's house wasn't that long.   
Richie suggested staying at the house and watching funny videos for at least half an hour and then driving Eddie back home, so they could spend a bit more time together. Eddie obviously agreed.   
Richie stopped the car in front of the house, the rain still pouring outside.   
“Ready for some memes with me?"   
Eddie chuckled and nodded.   
They stared at each other for a few seconds, the rain drumming against the car windows.   
Richie suddenly smiled.   
“What?" Eddie asked curiously, wondering what made Richie smile like that.   
“I just realized that I was right."   
“Right about what?"   
“Remember how I once drunk-texted you?" "Yeah?"   
“And remember how I told you that I was sure I'd fall in love with you the moment I saw you in person for the first time?"   
Eddie nodded, staring at Richie's face in anticipation, his heart beating fast.   
“Well, I was right."   
“You mean that?" Eddie asked, his voice way softer and quieter than he intended.   
Richie nodded, smiling hesitantly. He wasn't really sure what Eddie thought about his confession.   
They met for the first time a few hours back and here he was; confessing his love. Maybe he rushed it too much. But fuck, he really fell for him. They texted for so long, he had the biggest crush on him and now they were together; of course he fell in love.   
Eddie smiled happily, wiping his eyes and pulling Richie as close to him as the console in the middle of them allowed.   
“Remember how I told you I'd maybe make out with you in your car?"   
Richie chuckled. "Yeah, I remember that."   
“Is first date too soon for making out?"   
Richie laughed. "Depends on you."   
Eddie smiled and nodded, taking Richie's hand and putting it onto his cheek, feeling calm under his touch.   
Richie moved closer to Eddie on his seat and wrapped his other arm around his waist, resting his hand on his lower back to pull him a bit closer too.   
Sure, the front seats of a car weren’t exactly the best spot for making out, but better than nothing, right?   
Eddie stared into Richie's eyes with absolute adoration and Richie felt so loved.   
Eddie closed the distance between them, his soft lips meeting Richie's, kissing him slowly.   
It felt so good. Eddie never felt so happy and loved.   
He ran his fingers through Richie's curls and tugged lightly. Richie opened his mouth a little, letting out a soft noise.   
Eddie took the chance immediately, his tongue slipping inside Richie's mouth, making another soft sound that Eddie liked hearing way too much.   
Richie was about to pull Eddie onto his lap, so that the whole situation could be more comfortable for the both of them, when suddenly someone knocked on the car window. Eddie quickly pulled away from Richie, a bit scared by the sudden sound.   
“Bev, are you fucking serious right now?!" Richie shouted, so she could hear him through the window.   
Beverly was looking inside the car, grinning widely and waved at Eddie before motioning for Richie to pull down the window.   
She was wearing a red rain jacket, the hood over her head to protect her from the pouring rain.   
Richie rolled down the window and sighed. "What exactly made you decide that scaring the shit out of my date when we were having a good time would be okay?" Richie asked, still holding Eddie's hand, his thumb caressing his hand softly.   
Beverly smiled. "Well, there's this huge party tonight. Someone from the school here has a huge house or something like that and is having a party for everyone from school. So, I thought that maybe you two could go with me? To keep me company?"   
Richie sighed.   
“Are you serious, Bev? We're on a date here. Why would we go to a party?"   
“Because we could have some fun and you two could spend more time together. Also, I don't want to go alone. I don't know anyone here yet."   
Richie sighed again and looked at Eddie.   
Eddie shrugged. “Maybe we could go? I can text my mom and tell her that I'm staying the night at Stan's. I mean, if you wouldn't mind me staying at your house?" Eddie asked, looking at Beverly now.   
The smile on her face became wider, if that was even possible, and she nodded quickly.   
“My aunt won't have any problem with you staying the night. So, are you two lovers going with me to have some legit fun?"

-

Richie drove them to the party.   
Beverly was right, the house was huge, it looked more like a mansion.   
According to Beverly, the house belonged to some super popular guy from school and his parents weren't home for the whole week, so he threw parties every night.   
Eddie thought that was kinda dumb.   
They walked inside the house, since the door was wide open and many people were standing and talking outside.   
The house had a huge garden as well.   
“Man, this guy has to be rich as fuck."   
Beverly chuckled at Richie's comment, walking inside the house and looking around.   
It was absolutely packed with people. Everyone was either dancing to the loud music or drinking or talking about something unimportant way too enthusiastically.   
Richie took Eddie's hand in his and smiled. "Let's get something to drink and let Bev socialize or whatever the fuck she wanted to do."

Beverly quickly joined a group of people who were dancing in the huge living room. Meanwhile, Richie and Eddie sat on a couch, both drinking from a red cup.

The night went on and Beverly was talking to another group of people. Richie was still sitting on the sofa with the same red cup while Eddie sat next to him, drinking from his fourth cup. "Eddie, maybe you should stop with the alcohol for now, okay?" Richie suggested, taking the cup from a protesting Eddie and putting it onto the floor.   
“Nooo, give it back."   
Eddie sounded drunk. Wasted, actually.   
Richie, who was thankfully sober, wasn't exactly sure how that happened.   
He just went to the toilet an hour ago and when he got back Eddie was pouring the alcohol into him with a drunk giggling Beverly next to him. So, here he was, sitting next to an extremely drunk Eddie while Beverly was somewhere in the house.   
“Richie?"   
Richie looked at Eddie's face with his pink cheeks and smiled.   
“Yes?"   
“It's illegal."   
“What is illegal?"   
“Being this hot. You're unbelievably hot. With your stupid denim jacket and ripped jeans." Oh, so Eddie was an honest drunk. Richie smirked at the realization.   
He wanted to reply but Eddie continued.   
“Also, you're way too good at kissing."   
He stood up from the couch and then sat back down, onto Richie's lap this time.   
Richie rested his hands on Eddie's thighs and raised his eyebrows, chuckling.   
“You're not exactly bad at kissing either."   
Eddie rested his head on Richie's shoulder and slowly ran his lips down his neck, his hands trailing under Richie’s t-shirt.   
Richie sighed and pulled Eddie a bit away from him.   
“You're drunk, Eddie."   
The boy giggled at that.   
“Yup. Drunk as fuuuck."   
Richie laughed and stood up slowly, taking Eddie with him.   
“I think it's time for us to head back home." Eddie groaned and pulled Richie back down onto the couch by his arm.   
“Noo, not yet. We still have a lot of stuff to do." Richie sighed.   
“What stuff exactly? It's almost 2am, we should go home and get some sleep, you have school tomorrow, Eddie."   
“I want you to kiss me, Rich. Pretty please? Or, if you want, you could just bend me over that desk over there an—."   
Richie put his hand over Eddie's mouth gently, shutting him up.   
“You don't know what you're saying, you're too drunk right now and we're going home, okay?" To all his protests, Eddie let Richie pull him up from the couch again and followed him outside this time.   
The fresh air hit his face as soon as they got outside and it felt nice.   
Beverly was sitting on one of the steps, smoking a cigarette.   
“Beverly, we're going home, Eddie's too drunk to stay here longer, he needs some sleep." Beverly looked at Richie and nodded, looking way more sober that Eddie.   
Eddie was basically holding on to Richie, so he wouldn't fall. He felt sick but also all giggly and happy.   
He just wanted to tickle Richie, kiss him and then maybe even fu—.   
“Eddie?" Richie's voice pulled Eddie out of his thoughts, so he looked up at Richie's tired face. "You look so pretty."   
Richie just rolled his eyes, realizing that it was impossible to have a normal conversation with Eddie when he was acting like this.   
With Beverly's help, Richie somehow managed to get Eddie into the backseat of his car, before starting the engine and heading home.

-

Walking up the stairs into the guest room, which was now Richie’s bedroom, with Eddie holding on to him was a challenge.   
But they somehow managed to do it without waking up Beverly's aunt.   
The moment they entered the room, Eddie climbed onto Richie's bed and fell asleep. Richie exhaled from exhaustion and sat down onto the edge of the same bed.   
Looking at Eddie, he chuckled.   
Well, that was an interesting night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i hope you liked this chapter, i stayed up until 2am to finish it oops.   
> i’ll try to update again soon! :) probably on saturday or sunday <3   
> hope you’re having a nice day/night!   
> thank you so much for reading, it means a lot! :)


	4. soft thoughts, boring thoughts

**tuesday**

Richie woke up surprisingly early in the morning, the alarm clock next to his bed signaling the number 6 in bright red color, the sky behind the window still dark.  
He was laying on his side with Eddie cuddled close to his body, one arm draped over Richie's waist and his face smushed into his chest. Eddie's even breathing was making Richie calm.  
His hair was all messy, his cheeks pink and lips parted, and in that moment Richie thought he looked like an angel.  
He was just so beautiful and cute.  
The cutest.  
Richie smiled to himself and brushed his thumb lightly over Eddie's pink cheek.  
He never would had thought that he could feel so much love for another person. Eddie was just—, well, he was Eddie. And Richie loved that.  
He loved the eye-rolls Eddie gave him when he said something especially inappropriate, or the cute laugh when he said something funny.  
He liked how open Eddie was when it came to expressing his emotions. How he would let Richie hug him or even kiss him. He really fucking liked him.  
His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening slowly.  
"Rich, you awake?"  
Beverly opened the bedroom door just enough to look inside.  
Richie didn't want to wake Eddie up, so he tried not to really move.  
"Yeah, but Eddie's still asleep." Richie whispered back.  
"Oh, okay. What about school though?"   
Richie sighed and closed his eyes for a longer second.  
Fuck, he completely forgot about that. What if Eddie got into some kind of trouble with his mother if he skipped school?  
"I'll try to wake him up. Are you going to school?"  
Beverly nodded. "Yeah, I think I should go. Well, good luck with Eddie."  
Richie chuckled.  
"Thanks. Have fun at school."  
Beverly rolled her eyes and smiled, closing the door again.

Richie looked down at the boy sleeping in his arms and sighed. Eddie looked so peaceful and happy, waking him up seemed almost wrong.  
"Eddie? You should wake up." Richie whispered softly, caressing his thumb across Eddie's cheek.  
Eddie just pulled Richie closer and continued sleeping happily.  
Richie smiled.  
Eddie was so unbelievably cute.  
Richie just wanted to stay in bed with him for the whole damn day.  
Just so they could cuddle, talk, watch the TV and maybe even kiss.  
"Eddie. Come on, you have to wake up or you're gonna be late for school."  
Eddie made a displeased noise and shook his head.  
Richie laughed at that and wrapped his arms around Eddie tightly, pulling him even closer.  
So fucking cute.  
Richie pulled Eddie a bit up on the bed and kissed his cheek.  
"It's time to wake up."  
Eddie shook his head again, still looking as if he was sleeping.  
Richie kissed his cheek again and then his forehead and nose.  
A small smile appeared on Eddie's face and he opened his eyes, yawning.  
"Just five more minutes, Richie." He mumbled and closed his eyes again. Richie chuckled.  
"No, we have to get out of bed right now. You have school today."  
"Fuck school."  
"Wow, I have such a bad influence on you."  
Eddie chuckled and shook his head.  
"I just wanna cuddle with you today, that's all. Also my head hurts a lot, I feel a bit like dying."  
"Well, you drank a shit-ton of whatever it was in those cups. I would be surprised if your head didn't hurt."  
Eddie looked up at the other boy who was hugging him tightly, a smile on his sleepy face.  
"Can we just stay in bed today? Pretty please?"  
Richie sighed and nodded.  
"It's unfair, you know? No one could ever say no to your face, you're incredibly cute, my dear Eds."  
Eddie rested his face back against Richie's chest.  
"What about your mother? Won't she be pissed that you would rather stay in bed than go to school?"  
Eddie shrugged.  
"She knows that I stayed at Stanley's house overnight. I'll tell her we worked on the project until late night and that I was then too tired to go to school, because I was afraid I'd faint during the day."  
Richie chuckled. "Nice alibi. You're a genius."  
"I guess. Was I too drunk yesterday?" Richie ruffled Eddie's hair and kissed his forehead.  
"Yeah, you could say that."  
"Come on, Richie. Was I? Because I don't really remember shit."  
Richie chuckled, caressing Eddie's back to comfort him.  
"Uhhh, you were pretty wasted, yeah."  
"Oh no, what did I do?"  
"Nothing much. You just wanted to kiss me all the time, and then you wanted me to bend you over a table or something like that."  
Eddie's cheeks were red when he looked up at Richie, who was holding in a laugh.  
"What?! Did I really say that?" He asked in shock, thinking about what Richie had just said.  
"I can't believe I said that. I'm so sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable."  
Eddie got a bit serious, his brows furrowed.  
What if he really made him uncomfortable?  
Richie smiled. "Nah, it was actually kinda funny."  
The frown on Eddie's face didn't disappear though.  
"Did we... did we do anything last night?"  
Richie wasn't expecting that question.  
He shook his head.  
"No, you were drunk, that’d be wrong. I would never take advantage of you like that. Never." Richie replied with a serious face.  
Was Eddie expecting to hear a different answer?  
Eddie hugged Richie tightly, taking his hand and kissing it. He was perfect.  
"I love you, Richie."  
Richie felt as if his heart had stopped beating. He could as well die right now and he would die the happiest he had ever been.  
The boy who he loved so dearly loved him back. Was it even real life?  
Eddie's voice was laced with love and trust and it made Richie almost tear up.  
Eddie loved him and trusted him.  
Slowly, he placed his thumb under Eddie's jaw and pulled his face closer to his, their eyes locking.  
"Can I kiss you?"  
There was so much love and happiness in Richie's eyes, he was absolutely beaming.  
"Yes, please." Eddie breathed out, still surprised by how he confessed his feelings so suddenly.  
Richie closed the gap between them, pushing his lips against Eddie's.  
It felt a bit different this time than when they kissed in his car.  
As if he could almost taste the love.  
Eddie kissed back immediately, his fingers finding its way into Richie's curly hair, tugging a bit.  
Richie parted his lips, a small sound of pleasure coming out, Eddie's tongue slipping into his mouth.  
He tasted like happiness, if that made any sense.  
But did it have to make sense?  
Richie put his hands on Eddie's hips, pulling him up onto his lap, their lips still connected.  
Eddie pulled away and looked down at the other boy, sitting on his lap and smiling widely.  
Richie rested his hands on Eddie's thighs, caressing them softly.  
"You look so beautiful like this." Richie admitted, staring up at the other boy in adoration.  
Eddie smiled and connected their lips again, his cheeks pink.  
Richie wasn't sure how far he could take it. Did Eddie want more? Maybe he didn't want that yet.  
But the emotions he felt... Holy fuck.  
Eddie probably felt the same, because his fingers in Richie's hair twisted and pulled a little too roughly this time, making Richie moan into his mouth.  
Eddie smiled happily, pulling away and staring at Richie beneath him.  
His cheeks were flushed, lips a bit swollen and shiny and his curls falling onto his forehead. He looked so pretty.  
In that moment, Eddie swore that he had never seen someone so beautiful.  
He wanted to memorize this moment forever.  
Richie smirked.  
"Like what you see, Eds?"  
Eddie rolled his eyes and playfully punched Richie into his arm.  
"Of course I do, you fucking idiot. I wouldn't be sitting on your lap if I didn't like you."  
Richie smiled and pulled Eddie close to his chest again, wrapping his arms around him.  
Eddie closed his eyes, listening to Richie's heartbeat and feeling relaxed immediately.  
They laid there like that for a few minutes. It was nice.  
"Eddie?"  
"Yeah?" Eddie mumbled into Richie's chest.  
"Are we rushing things?"  
Eddie shook his head, sitting up again, so he could look at Richie.  
"No, I don't think we are. Do you?"  
"No, I like it like this."  
Eddie smiled.  
"Me too."

—

Eddie was sitting on Richie's bed, going through some of the comics the other boy brought with him from California. Meanwhile, Richie was taking a shower in the bathroom.  
Beverly was still at school. It was lunch time though, so she would be home soon, probably in like two hours.  
Eddie turned to the next page and yawned. His head didn't hurt anymore, thankfully, but he still felt a bit off. A bit weird.  
He had texted his mother as soon as he got out of bed, so she wouldn't freak out, and then got some cookies to eat for breakfast from Beverly's aunt, who was very nice and friendly.  
And here he was now; reading the comics and feeling bored out of his mind because Richie was really taking his time in the shower.  
Wait, what was that sound? Was that—. Of fucking course it was.  
Richie was singing some rock song as loud as possible in the shower.  
Eddie chuckled and smiled to himself. Richie was so different from him, they were both so different, yet they were also perfect for each other.  
Suddenly, the bathroom door opened and Richie came out.  
Eddie looked up from the comics and almost had a heart attack.  
Richie wasn't wearing anything except for a towel hanging low around his hips.  
Eddie looked back down to the comics, trying not to stare at Richie too much.  
Richie smirked.  
"I don't mind if you stare at me, Eds."  
Eddie rolled his eyes but still looked up, locking eyes with an amused Richie.  
His hair was all soaked, the droplets of water falling onto the carpeted floor.  
He looked even taller and lankier without his baggy sweater on.  
"You should dry your hair as well, you're gonna be cold now." Eddie stated, staring at him.  
Richie smiled, turned around and disappeared into the bathroom for a second before coming out again, rubbing another towel on his head to dry his hair at least a bit. He then looked at Eddie and pointed to his hair, chuckling.  
"Better?"  
Eddie smiled. "I guess."  
"You want some clean clothes as well? You can't wear these pants and sweater forever." Richie asked, looking at Eddie's clothes in which he also slept.  
Eddie nodded.  
"Yeah, sure. But I doubt you'll have something my size."  
"Don't loose all hope before you even try, Eddie, my dearest."  
Eddie rolled his eyes, still smiling.  
"Whatever. Just a clean t-shirt and sweatpants would be cool."  
"Understood, captain!" Richie saluted Eddie before searching through his closet. Eddie stared at Richie's back.  
Was he being weird for staring?  
Richie turned around and took a few steps towards Eddie, who's heart was beating fast again, handing him a blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants.  
"Here you go." Richie smiled and bent down to kiss Eddie's cheek, making the boy giggle.  
He then turned around to find some clothes for himself too, but Eddie grabbed his hand to stop him, pulled him back to the bed and stood up.  
"Can I kiss you?" Eddie asked, standing in front of Richie, staring up at him.  
Richie didn't reply, he just leaned in and connected their lips slowly, enjoying the touch of Eddie's soft lips and his hand on his arm.  
He pulled away after a second and caressed Eddie's cheek, smiling at him happily.  
"I love you too, by the way."  
Eddie looked into his eyes, tightening the grip on Richie's hand.  
He just said it back! Richie loved him!  
Was this for real?  
"You do?" Eddie asked, mentally slapping himself because of course Richie did.  
Richie nodded.  
"Yeah, I do. A lot."  
And fuck, he really did.  
Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie's waist and hugged him. He just wanted to live in this moment forever.  
Richie laughed and patted Eddie's back.  
"Hey, I really like hugging you and everything, but my towel's gonna fall off any second, so I'm just maybe gonna dress first?"  
Eddie laughed and pulled away, letting Richie go back to the closet.  
He turned around to face the bed and took off his sweater and pants and then put on the clothes Richie gave him.  
The clothes were too big on him, exactly as he expected, but they smelled all nice like Richie, and so Eddie was in heaven.  
He turned around just in time to see the other boy, now dressed into a hoodie and sweatpants as well, extending his arms, wrapping them around him in a loving embrace and pulling them both down onto the bed.  
They both laughed, laying on their backs next to each other and holding hands.  
Eddie liked it very much.  
He felt safe and happy and in love.  
And he wanted Richie to know it.  
But before he managed to express his feelings, Richie decided to speak.  
"I feel so happy with you, Eddie."  
Eddie turned to his side and kissed him softly.  
"I feel happy with you too."

 

**wednesday**

Eddie and Beverly both went to school, leaving Richie alone at home.  
Eddie's mom thankfully didn't suspect anything, believing her son when he told her that he stayed the night at Stan's house.

Richie was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching some annoyingly boring sitcom on the TV. He sighed and took his phone, deciding to text Bev about something that had been bothering him for some time now. Especially after the party.

Beverly was sitting in the cafeteria next to Eddie, eating her slice of pizza and listening to Eddie who was talking about how much he hated the new geography teacher, because she was clearly homophobic.  
Suddenly, Beverly's phone beeped, so she apologized to Eddie and looked at the texts from Richie.

 **Tozier <3:** hey bev?

 **Bev:** yeah?

 **Tozier <3:** how come you answered so quickly??? aren't you supposed to be paying attention in class hmmmm????

Beverly chuckled and rolled her eyes.

 **Bev:** fuck off, we're having lunch rn

Eddie looked at Beverly curiously, leaning closer to her to get a better look at the texts on her phone.  
"Is that Richie texting you?"  
"Yeah, he's probably bored. I love him, but when he's bored, he gets annoying as fuck."  
Eddie chuckled. "Only when he's bored?"  
Beverly laughed at that and shot Eddie a smile. "True."  
"Tell him I said hi."

 **Bev:** eddie says hi

 **Tozier <3:** tell eds that i miss him a lot

"He misses you a lot."  
"Aww, I miss him too."

 **Bev:** he misses you too. ugh, young love

 **Tozier <3:** ur just like that because you're single

 **Bev:** shut up, are you bored and that's why you decided to text me?

 **Tozier <3:** yeah....

 **Bev:** okay, i don't mind texting u and stuff but just don't annoy me please, school is pretty annoying already, so there's no reason to make it even worse yeah?

 **Tozier <3:** fine, sorry bev  
**Tozier <3:** actually i also wanted to ask you something  
**Tozier <3:** because i need advice

 **Bev:** sure, that's what i'm here for. advice on what exactly? (:

 **Tozier <3:** ur the best <3

 **Bev:** yeah yeah  
**Bev:** so?

 **Tozier <3:** but u can't tell eddie ok???

 **Bev:** i won't :) promise  
**Bev:** what's up?

Beverly waited for Richie to text her about the problem he was probably dealing with. It took him some time before he sent the text.

 **Tozier <3:** do you think eddie wants to have sex with me?

What.  
Beverly's eyebrows shot up. She wasn't expecting that.  
But it was Richie texting her after all, she should had expected this kind of stuff.

 **Bev:** what ???? !

 **Tozier <3:** do u think he wants to have sex with me? because what if he does but thinks that i don't want to and then he'll get bored eventually and leave me for someone wayyy better

 **Bev:** okay first of all; calm down  
**Bev:** second of all; Eddie loves you okay? he won't leave u even if you won't want to have sex at all  
**Bev:** Eddie's not some fuck boy, he won't leave you for something as stupid as that  
**Bev:** seriously Richie, you have absolutely nothing to worry about okay? :)

 **Tozier <3:** okay, thank you beverly  
**Tozier <3:** im honestly lucky as fuck to have you as my best friend

 **Bev:** love u too, you beautiful trash can with amazing hair  <333

 **Tozier <3:** please never call me that again  
**Tozier <3:** i think i cringed so much that i actually died

 **Bev:** shut up, i know ur lying  
**Bev:** also, you want to have sex with eddie or not? because if u don't want to, then that's absolutely okay as well, you know? u shouldn't pressure yourself into anything.

 **Tozier <3:**  no  
**Tozier <3:** i do want to, i really do  
**Tozier <3:** that's why im asking u  
**Tozier <3:** because i don't want to pressure him into anything either or rush everything too much and scare him off

 **Bev:** honestly, Richie? the best thing for u to do rn is to actually talk to Eddie about it

 **Tozier <3:** but that'd be awkward

 **Bev:** no it wouldn't  
**Bev:** trust me, just talk to him ;)

 **Tozier <3:** okay then  
**Tozier <3:** thank you bev, it means a lot :)

 **Bev:** no problem Richie  <3 love u!! please don't die from boredom  
 **Bev:** just 3 more hours and then me and eddie will be back !!

 **Tozier <3:** eddie's gonna uhhh come over after school as well?

 **Bev:** yeah  
 **Bev:** also i really appreciate the lack of dirty jokes in this conversation, nice

 **Tozier <3:** i meaaan.. it's never too late for a joke right???

 **Bev:** don't u dare  
 **Bev:** see ya after school!!

"What were you talking about?" Eddie asked, smiling.  
"What?"  
"Just that you smiled but also looked a bit worried, so I was just wondering if everything's okay with Richie?"  
Beverly smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah, everything's absolutely okay! He just needed some advice, that's all."  
Eddie nodded. "Oh, okay."  
He couldn't wait to see Richie again after school!

 

Beverly unlocked the main door and walked inside the house, tossing her denim jacket onto the floor right next to her backpack.  
Eddie followed her inside, closing the door behind him and carefully taking off his shoes and putting them next to Beverly's.  
"You can go upstairs to hang out with Richie, if you want. I'm gonna make myself something to eat and then I'm probably gonna join the two of you. I'm gonna make pasta, I guess. You want some too?" She asked, smiling at Eddie.  
Eddie shook his head.  
"I'm all good, thank you."  
Beverly nodded and headed to the kitchen, leaving Eddie alone in the living room.  
He took off his jacket and folded it before putting it onto the couch.  
He then ran up the stairs and straight to the door of Richie's room.  
The door was closed, so Eddie knocked.  
No answer.  
He knocked again, twice this time.  
No answer.  
Eddie sighed and opened the door slowly, looking inside.  
The curtains were down, so it was pretty dark in the room. Richie was lying on his stomach, one leg hanging out of the bed, his sweatshirt ridden up to his chest, so that his back was bare, his glasses smushed into his face all funny and the blanket on the floor next to a pile of comics.  
Eddie chuckled, entered the room and closed the door behind him as quietly as possible.  
"Eddie?" Richie mumbled and sat up on the bed, stretching and yawning.  
Eddie smiled.  
"Yeah, it's me. We just got back from school."  
Richie extended his arms towards the smaller boy and smiled sleepily.  
Eddie walked towards the bed and sat down on his knees, letting Richie wrap his arms around him and kiss his cheek.  
"I was so bored today, you have no idea."  
"You should have gone for a walk or something." Eddie mumbled into Richie's neck and ran his fingers slowly through his curly hair.  
Richie shrugged and pulled Eddie onto his lap, still sitting up.  
"Nah, I didn't mind staying inside the house, it was just boring."  
"So boring that you fell asleep?"  
Richie chuckled. "Yeah, exactly like that."  
Eddie smiled and pulled away from the hug, still sitting on Richie's lap.  
"How was school?"  
Eddie scoffed and rolled his eyes.  
"Our new teacher is a homophobic bitch."  
"How come?"  
"She got into an argument with my classmate about some stuff, called her the f word."  
Richie opened his mouth in shock.  
"She did what?!"  
Eddie sighed. "Yeah... If she says anything like that ever again then I'll probably have to do everything in my power to get her fired."  
Richie chuckled at Eddie's fierceness and caressed his soft cheek.  
He felt so proud. Eddie was amazing.  
"Fuck, I love you so much."  
Eddie started blushing immediately, hiding his face in his hands.  
"Awww, come here." Richie took Eddie's hands and pulled them down from his face, smiling at him lovingly.  
Eddie leaned in and kissed Richie on the lips. "I love you too, Richie."  
"Oh my god, you two are so fucking adorable." Beverly stated, walking into the room.  
"Bev! What about some privacy, huh?"  
Richie glared at her for a second. He couldn't be angry at her though, he loved her too much for that.  
She was always like a sister to him. They just understood each other so well.  
Beverly smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed, a bowl full of pasta with cheese in her hand.  
Eddie moved out of Richie's lap and sat next to him, taking his hand.  
"How was school?" Richie asked.  
Beverly shrugged.  
"Boring? Annoying? Way too long?"  
Richie laughed and nodded. "Yeah, sounds about right."  
Beverly ate some of the pasta before speaking again.  
"So, my aunt's not gonna be home tonight, she has a night shift at the mall, because they have these huge sales or whatever. Therefore, the house is ours, boys! Cool, right?" She grinned happily.  
"Oh nice. You have any specific plans?" Richie asked.  
"About that, I was actually invited to another party tonight and I'd really like to go, because my new friend's gonna be there. Do you want to come with me?" She asked, smiling at both Richie and Eddie.  
Eddie shook his head quickly.  
"No, thanks. Last time was a disaster."  
Beverly chuckled, remembering how shitfaced Eddie was the last time.  
"Fair enough. Richie?"  
Richie shook his head as well.  
"Nope, gonna stay with my dear Eddie instead." He replied and kissed Eddie's cheek, making the boy giggle.  
Beverly smirked.  
"Okay, cool. Eddie, maybe you could stay over again tonight and have a movie night with Richie? You'd have the house all for yourselves. Sounds good, right?" She asked, winking at Richie who just rolled his eyes at her.  
Eddie thought about it for a second and then shrugged.  
"Sure, why not. Netflix and chill sounds like a good idea maybe, doesn't it?"  
Richie choked on his spit when he heard the words, looking over at Eddie in shock. Did he just— say that?!  
Beverly looked surprised as well, but laughed at Richie's expression. The whole situation was even funnier to her when she remembered the text conversation she had with Richie earlier that day.  
Eddie laughed and punched Richie's shoulder playfully.  
"That was just a joke, Richie."  
"It was a lame joke." Richie protested, trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.  
Eddie rolled his eyes and smiled, seeing Richie's pink cheeks.  
"No, it wasn't. You're just jealous your jokes aren't as good as mine."  
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

 

It was 9pm and Beverly just finally finished getting ready for the party.  
She ran down the stairs into the living room where Eddie and Richie were cuddled up on the couch and stopped in front of them, motioning with her hands to her outfit.  
"Ta-dah!! What do you guys think?"  
She was wearing a short black skirt and a pastel orange sweater, her hair curly with a bow on one side.  
"You look stunning, Beverly." Eddie admitted, smiling up at her from the couch.  
Richie gave her a thumbs up.  
"You're gonna be the hottest girl there, Bev."  
Beverly giggled and took her jacket and purse.  
"Well, I'm probably gonna sleep over at the friend's house after the party, so see you tomorrow, I guess?"  
The boys nodded and smiled at her.  
"Cool. Have fun, lovebirds!" She waved at them and left the house.  
Richie chuckled. "She definitely has a huge crush on that new friend of hers."  
Eddie smiled.  
"That's cute. I hope it'll all work out for her."  
Richie pulled Eddie closer to him, kissing his neck.  
"You're so adorable, Eds."  
Eddie giggled and swatted Richie's hands away from his waist.  
Richie smiled and then sighed dramatically.  
"So, what are we gonna do?"  
Eddie shrugged.  
"I dunno, we could watch a movie or play a game?"  
Richie nodded. "Sure, sounds good."  
Something about Richie felt a bit off to Eddie. As if he was nervous or something. He kept glancing at Eddie nervously when he thought he wasn’t looking.  
Eddie was getting pretty curious and wanted to find out what exactly bothered him.  
"Hey, Richie?"  
Richie, who was trying to pull the fluffy blanket over his legs, looked at Eddie and smiled.  
"Yeah?"  
"Is everything okay? You seem a bit nervous."  
Richie felt his hands shake a bit.  
Fuck, he hated being nervous.  
He hated it so much.  
But he had to have the conversation with Eddie.  
"Yeah, uhm, I actually wanted to ask you something."  
"Okay."  
"And if it's gonna make you feel uncomfortable or something, then just let me know and I won't ever bring it up, okay?"  
Eddie nodded and waited impatiently for Richie to continue.  
Was he gonna talk about what Eddie expected to hear?  
He had been thinking about some stuff as well, so maybe Richie wanted to talk about that too?  
Richie just nervously fiddled with the blanket, not speaking at all. It was weird and unusual for him; to not speak for so long.  
Eddie sighed and, to everyone's surprise, pulled Richie close to him by grabbing his hoodie and kissed him.  
Eddie just felt so happy with Richie, so loved and safe. He loved him, a lot.  
He loved how Richie made him feel.  
After a few seconds Eddie pulled away just enough to rest his forehead against Richie's, their noises touching, and took Richie's hand.  
"I want to have sex with you, if that's what you wanted to ask me." Eddie admitted and looked into Richie's surprised eyes.  
Fuck, what if Richie wanted to talk about something else?  
Maybe Eddie just got the both of them into the most awkward situation ever.  
What if he ruined everything!  
Oh yeah, he definitely ruined everything! Fuck!  
But a small smile appeared on Richie's face before he leaned in and kissed Eddie again, the kiss feeling a bit needy this time, as if to reassure Eddie that everything was more than okay and that Richie wanted the same thing.  
Eddie smiled into the kiss and moved to sit on Richie's lap again.  
Richie looked at him and placed his hand on his cheek softly.  
"How did you know I wanted to talk about that?"  
"Ah, it was pretty obvious, since you've been staring at me all the time lately."  
"I stare at you, because you're always just so beautiful that I have to wonder, whether you're actually real or not."  
Eddie blushed, feeling the happiest he had ever been. He loved Richie so much. How was he even real?  
"I love you too." Richie smiled and replied as if he knew exactly what Eddie was thinking of.  
Eddie smiled and placed his hands on Richie's chest before pushing him softly onto his back on the couch, connecting their lips in a loving kiss.  
They were happy and in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! :)  
> thank you so much for reading my story and waiting patiently for new chapters, it means a lot to me!  
> this one is finally a bit longer than the last one, so i hope you liked it! :)  
> once again, thank YOU so much for reading and especially for leaving nice comments - they always make my day and motivate me to write more !!  
> have a beautiful day! :) <3


	5. happy tears, sad tears

Eddie was cuddled close to Richie on the couch, finding comfort in the heat of the other boy's body and staring at the ceiling, thinking about how lucky and happy he truly was.  
Richie had one arm around Eddie's shoulders, holding him as close as possible, the tips of his fingers running up and down his arm.  
It was a bit dark in the room, the TV being the only source of light. It was calming, though.  
Richie wanted to think about how much he loved Eddie and how happy he was that they were so close, especially after this evening, but he couldn't exactly clear his mind of the venomous thoughts which were constantly reminding him that his time with the boy was only limited.  
"Richie?"  
"Yeah?" Richie looked at Eddie, admiring the other boy's beautiful face.  
"Are we dating?"  
"Yeah, I mean, only if you want to?"  
"Of course I do. I love you." Eddie replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, smiling up at Richie.  
"I love you too, flowerboy."  
Eddie rolled his eyes and chuckled, he secretly loved all the nicknames, but he would never admit it.  
Richie yawned.  
"So, maybe we could go upstairs, to an actual bed, and get some sleep? It's really late and you look a bit tired." Eddie suggested.  
"Tired? Me and tired? Never. I never get tired. I don't even know what sleep is. Never heard of it."  
Eddie laughed. "Fuck off."  
"Oh, come on. You laughed."  
"I laughed because I found the fact that you're shit at making jokes funny."  
Richie rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless.  
"Liar."  
"Maybe." Eddie smirked playfully and kissed Richie's shoulder.  
"Let's get some sleep, okay?" He suggested once more.  
"Yeah, okay. Sounds good. Do you have to go to school tomorrow?" Richie asked, hoping that Eddie could stay at home with him.  
"Mhmm, I'm not exactly thrilled about it, I'd love to be with you instead, but I should really go."  
"That sucks. What about a date then? I could pick you up from school and we could go for some really nice lunch and then make out in my car and listen to my favorite music that you secretly hate."  
Eddie smiled at the thought of them spending a nice afternoon together.  
"I'd love to, but I have a project with Stanley that we have to finish until Friday and he would actually kill me if I bailed on him. I'm sorry."  
"Oh, okay." Richie sounded disappointed and a bit sad. Eddie hated that, he didn't want him to be sad.  
"But you could come over at night, maybe? Stay at my house? You'd just have to sneak around my mom, so she wouldn't notice you and then you could spend the night with me. We could watch a movie together."  
Richie smiled happily and nodded, his eyes lit with happiness once again. And Eddie felt the same, he wanted to be with Richie too.  
"Cool, that's gonna be real nice."  
"Yeah."  
They both smiled happily, staring at the white ceiling again.  
Richie felt happy, he really did, but the thoughts were back again and he hated it.  
The thoughts that were shouting: This won't last! You don't have much time left with him! You'll have to go back to California eventually! You will break his heart! You never should had started this relationship when you knew how it would end! Eddie's gonna hate you!  
Richie sighed and rubbed his eyes, his fingers a bit wet.  
No. No tears.  
He didn't want Eddie to get worried when he looked so happy. Richie didn't want to ruin the moment.  
Eddie sat up on the couch and looked down at Richie who smiled at him.  
"Ready for some quality night's sleep?"  
Eddie chuckled and nodded.  
"Yup, can't wait. This fucking couch is hurting my back so bad."  
Richie laughed and sat up too, wrapping his arms around Eddie's waist immediately.  
Eddie smiled at him and kissed him softly.  
The kiss made Richie feel a bit happier, making the thoughts disappear for a while.  
Richie kissed Eddie's shoulder and then stood up, putting on his clothes and running a hand through his messy hair.  
Eddie stared at him in absolute adoration, as if he had seen an angel for the first time in his life.  
Richie handed Eddie his clothes and chuckled. "Come on, you were the one who wanted to get to bed as quickly as possible and now you're just staring at me."  
"But you're just so pretty. I wish I could stare at your face for the rest of my life."  
Fuck, Richie's heart sped up a bit at his boyfriend's words.  
It felt so good to be loved by someone who you loved deeply as well.  
To be loved by someone who also happened to be the cutest boy in the whole damn universe.  
Eddie smiled at Richie's surprised expression, took the pile of clothes from him and put them on.  
Richie wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug.  
He couldn't get enough of the absolutely adorable boy.  
Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie's waist as well, resting his cheek against his chest.  
The one thing Richie loved the most about hugging the other boy was the height difference between them.  
He loved how he could rest his chin on the top of Eddie's head, or how he could pick the boy up from the ground and make him giggle.  
Richie also loved how cute Eddie looked when they hugged and he stared up at him with his soft pink cheeks covered in freckles and pretty brown eyes full of adoration.  
Their hugs became his most favorite thing in the whole world.  
"What are you thinking 'bout?" Eddie mumbled into Richie's hoodie.  
Richie smiled to himself and kissed Eddie's forehead.  
"Just about how much I love these kind of moments. When we just hug and feel completely at peace, as if the world had stopped spinning for a second."

-  
**thursday**

Eddie was woken up early in the morning by an alarm he set on his phone the night before, so that he wouldn't be late for school.  
He yawned, turned around on the bed to face Richie and smiled to himself. Richie was sleeping intensely, a pout on his face and mumbling something in his sleep.  
He looked absolutely adorable.  
Eddie really wanted to stay in the warm bed and just sleep for another five hours and then spend the whole day with Richie.  
But he had school and a project to do with Stan...  
"Richie?" Eddie whispered, running his fingers through Richie's messy hair.  
"Yeah, baby?" Richie mumbled sleepily, making Eddie blush at the name.  
"I'm gonna go to school now, okay? You can stay in bed and sleep, you need it. I love you."  
Eddie leaned in closer to his boyfriend and kissed his cheek after Richie mumbled a quiet 'yes, love you too'.

-

"Oh, so you are alive. I thought Richie had murdered you or something, since you kind of disappeared." Stanley stated, staring at Eddie and looking a bit pissed.  
They were both standing in front of their lockers in the busy school hallway.  
Eddie sighed.  
"I'm sorry, Stanley. I know I should have at least texted you. It's not my fault you weren't at school on Wednesday, so I could talk to you and explain everything."  
"You could have at least texted me. Your mother called me both on Monday and Tuesday to make sure you were actually at my house and that you weren't dying or anything. How was I supposed to know that you were "staying" at my house when you didn't even text me!"  
Eddie sighed again and closed his eyes for a second.  
"I'm sorry, Stanley. I messed up. Thank you for having my back, though. It really means a lot. I just kinda... forgot about everything when I was with Richie."  
Stan rolled his eyes and then pulled Eddie into a hug.  
"It's okay, I get it. I forget about the world around me when I'm with Bill as well. But I'm glad you are happy with Richie. I thought he would end up being a huge idiot or some weirdo."  
Eddie laughed and patted Stanley's back before he pulled away from the long hug.  
"Stanley, he's just so amazing. I have to tell you everything about him."  
Stanley smiled happily. Seeing Eddie this happy made him feel happy too. Eddie deserved it.  
"We could meet up earlier today? You know, for the project? We could meet up an hour earlier, so you can tell me all the things about Richie."  
Eddie nodded in agreement, smiling.  
"You're seriously the best friend ever, Stan."  
Stanley just rolled his eyes.  
"Yeah, yeah. I know."

-

Eddie waved at Stanley excitedly and walked up to him in the busy café. Stan was sitting in a huge comfy chair, a cup of coffee already in his hands and a book on the table in front of him.  
"Hey." Eddie smiled and sat down onto a chair next to his friend.  
"Hi, Eddie. What type coffee are you gonna get?"  
"Uh, I think I'll get one a bit later."  
"Okay."  
"Are you sure that you're gonna be okay with me talking about my boyfriend for an hour?"  
Stanley chuckled and nodded.  
"Yeah, that's what friends are for, right? Also, I have this huge cup of black coffee, so I'm good."  
Eddie laughed.  
"Cool. So, I met him for the first time on Monday after school. The moment I saw him... Stan, I've never seen someone as beautiful as him. He's also an amazing hugger. Oh, and we kissed." Eddie was so enthusiastic about telling Stanley about his boyfriend, that he was talking super fast, it was almost impossible for Stan to keep up with his words.  
"Wait. You kissed him the moment you met him?"  
"Kind of, yeah."  
"Wow."  
"I mean, it felt right, you know? It was amazing. And then we went on a date that night. He bought me a rose and took me to see my favorite movie."  
"Oh yeah, I know that. He messaged me to ask about your favorite movie."  
"Cute, right?"  
Stanley nodded, smiling. Eddie looked so happy.  
"Well, we went to the cinema and held hands during the whole movie. And then we talked a lot and made out in his car. He's such a good kisser."  
"And then you stayed the night?"  
"No. We actually went to a house party with Beverly."  
"Wait, I though you hated parties?"  
"Yeah, I do. But I really wanted to spend more time with Richie. I didn't like the party, though. I got drunk and it sucked."  
Stanley chuckled.  
"You got drunk?! I'm sure that must had been interesting for Richie and Beverly, since I assume that was your first time getting drunk, right?"  
Eddie rolled his eyes.  
"Yeah, I said some weird shit. But Richie was super caring and nice and actually looked after me, you know? He took me back to Beverly's house and made sure I was okay. So that's why I stayed the night and didn't show up at school."  
"Oh, okay. I'm glad he's not an asshole."  
Eddie smiled.  
"I love him, Stanley. I love him so fucking much. He just makes me so happy. And he really cares about me, you know? I know we haven't been dating for exactly the longest time... but it feels right. I mean, we've been texting for a year and got very close, so maybe that's why we feel this way now."  
Stan nodded and smiled happily.  
"I'm happy for you, Eddie. It's amazing that you two got a chance to meet. When is he going back to California, though?"  
Eddie's smile faded away the moment Stan asked that question. And Stanley regretted it immediately. He didn't want Eddie to be sad, but Richie going back home was inevitable, it would happen even if he never asked.  
Eddie just stared blankly at his friend, the realization hitting him. He and Richie had been in their own world for the past few days and it was really easy to forget about everything around them.  
So he forgot about the fact that Richie had to leave eventually.  
Fuck. He didn't want him to leave.  
Stanley quickly reached out his hand and placed it on top of Eddie's for reassurance.  
"It's okay. I'm sure the two of you will figure it out somehow. Don't worry, Eddie."  
Eddie just nodded, his expression far gone from happy.  
Stan sighed.  
"Eddie, it will be okay."  
Eddie nodded again and smiled a bit. "I know, Stanley. Or at least I hope so."

-

Eddie arrived back home after finishing the project with Stan, feeling exhausted.  
"Eddie, is that you?" The voice belonging to Eddie's mother sounded from the living room.  
"Yes, mom. I was just with Stanley, we were working on another project."  
"Okay. Are you going to your room now?"  
"Yes, mom."  
Eddie ran up the stairs before his mother could ask more questions and closed the door behind him.  
Sitting down on his bed, he took his phone to text Richie. The screen lit up and Eddie noticed that Richie had already texted him half an hour ago. Oh wait, no. Richie didn't just text him, he added him to a group chat with Beverly and someone named Ben.

Trash: so i set up this gc for the movie night

Bev: thanks ! i forgot to do that  
Bev: i'll add ben

Trash: ok, i'll add eds

Ben: Hi :)  
Ben: Is it really okay if I join the movie night?

Trash: ben my boy! of course it is! bev's friends are my friends too!

Bev: actually... about that  
Bev: we're dating

Trash: wait what  
Trash: he's the friend from the party???

Ben: Yeah, I guess I am? :)

Bev: yup

Trash: oh  
Trash: OH  
Trash: okay then  
Trash: cool

Eddie: Hi, what movie night?

Trash: eddie!!! my love !!!

Bev: i'm having a movie night with ben at my house, do you want to join with richie? richie told me that you had something planned already but i still wanted to ask :)

Eddie: Thanks :) Yeah, we could join  
Eddie: Richie, do you want to join them?

Trash: yep, it sounds like it might be a lot of fun

Eddie: Just no alcohol, please?

Bev: don't worry, we'll order a pizza and drink cola or something

Eddie: Cool :)

Ben: and i'm gonna bring the movies

Trash: can we watch a horror movie?

Eddie: NO

Bev: i don't really care, just not anything about history please, i'm too tired for that

Ben: okay :)

Eddie: Thanks, Ben.  
Eddie: Wait, aren't you by any chance Ben from Geography? Because I had a project last year with someone named Ben.

Ben: Oh yeah, that's me :) I just remembered.

Eddie: Nice :)

Trash: i feel left out

Bev: okay cool, so is 9pm okay?

Eddie: Your house?

Trash: don't ignore me

Bev: yup :) my house

Eddie: Ok. I'll have to sneak out, so it better be worth it.

Trash: i'll make it worth your time ;)

Eddie: stop please

Bev: ew no

Trash: oh come on  
Trash: you're going just because of me

Eddie: Maybe (;

Trash: because i'm going just to be with u

Ben: you guys are really cute

Bev: they are, right? !! but don't encourage them too much or else they'll be making out the whoooole night instead of watching the movie and no one wants that

Trash: rude  
Trash: i just really love my boyfriend okay ??!

Eddie: Aww I love you too.

Trash: ❤️

Bev: okay okay that's enough  
Bev: 9pm, my house, is that alright? :)

Eddie: I'll be there :)

Ben: Me too  
Ben: do you guys want me to bring chocolate cookies? Beverly likes them.

Eddie: Sure :)

Trash: okay i know u said no alcohol  
Trash: but consider this  
Trash: weed

Eddie: Are you serious?!

Trash: sorry sorry  
Trash: just a joke

Eddie: a lame joke

Trash: you love my lame jokes

Eddie: Yeah, I do.

Ben: Awww :)

Bev: guyyyys not again please

-

Eddie put on Richie's hoodie and sweatpants, so he wouldn't get cold, and sneaked out of his house, which was surprisingly very easy since his mother was asleep in the living room.  
He took his bike and rode ten minutes to Beverly's house, arriving on time and knocking on the door at exactly 9pm.  
The door opened almost immediately, Richie standing behind it and wrapping his arms around Eddie as soon as he took a step inside the house, giving him a warm hug.  
"Hi, Richie." Eddie smiled and pulled away from his boyfriend's arms to give him a small kiss on the lips.  
"I missed you." Richie faked a sob and hugged Eddie again, burying his face into his soft hoodie.  
"I'm here now. And I'm kinda risking my life for your stupid ass, okay? Because if my mother finds out I sneaked out, then I'm as good as dead, Richie. So you better appreciate this."  
Richie chuckled and kissed Eddie's cheek sloppily, making his boyfriend scrunch his nose.  
"I love when you're kinda pissed at me. It's definitely a turn on."  
"Oh my god, just stop. Please." Eddie protested against Richie's jokes, but still couldn't help but smile and giggle when Richie kissed his cheek again and booped him on the nose with his finger.  
"I also love when I make you giggle like this. It's incredibly cute."  
They both smiled at each other and walked inside the house, closing the door behind them and holding hands.  
They entered the living room and were greeted by a happy looking Beverly who was lying on the floor with her head in Ben's lap. Ben's fingers were slowly playing with her curly hair. He looked up and smiled at Eddie.  
"Hi, Eddie. Nice to see you again."  
Eddie smiled back.  
"Nice to see you too, Ben. So, you two are officially together?"  
Bev nodded. "Yup. Since yesterday."  
"Cool."  
Richie fell down onto the couch and looked up at Eddie.  
"We decided to let you pick the movie."  
"Oh, are you sure?"  
Beverly smiled. "Yes. Because Richie wanted a horror movie, Ben wanted a romantic comedy and I wanted an action movie. So we decided that you should pick the movie and save us from a long argument."  
Eddie chuckled nervously. What if they didn't like the movie he picked?  
Richie motioned towards the pile of movies that belonged to Ben and smiled to reassure Eddie.  
"Seriously, whatever you pick, we'll watch it happily without a single problem." Richie stated.  
"Okay." Eddie sat down onto the carpet and looked through the movies.  
Some Disney classics, Back to the Future, Home Alone, Indiana Jones, Mama Mia, La La Land, Mad Max: Fury Road, Inception.  
Well, that was a hard decision to make.  
He honestly wanted to watch all of the movies. Mad Max or Inception sounded the best, but then he laid his eyes back on the cover of La La Land.  
Eddie thought about it for a moment and then picked the movie up from the pile and held it up in front of him for everyone in the room to see.  
Ben smiled and nodded. "A good pick, Eddie." Bev shrugged.  
"Sure, why not. Watching Ryan Gosling for two hours? Yes, please."  
Richie scoffed. "La La Land? Are you sure? Or is this just about your crush on that Gosling dude?"  
Eddie rolled his eyes.  
"You promised to watch whatever I pick, remember? Also, I don't have a crush on Ryan Gosling."  
Richie smirked. "Sure, whatever. As long as you let me hold you in my arms, then I think I could even survive Mama Mia."  
Ben rolled his eyes at that and made Beverly laugh.  
"How can you stand him, Eddie?" Beverly asked, laughing.  
Eddie shrugged and looked at Richie who was wiggling his eyebrows at him.  
The reason felt so obvious.  
He just loved Richie a lot.  
Eddie didn't know how that happened, when exactly he fell for the amazing and incredibly annoying boy, but it happened.  
And he would never change that.  
He felt so much love for him.  
"Oh no, now you two have the biggest heart eyes for each other just because I asked that stupid question. Stop it you two! No eye-fucking in my house!" Beverly groaned and Ben was the one to laugh this time.  
Richie chuckled when he noticed Eddie's pink cheeks.  
"Let's watch the movie." he said and took a slice of pizza from a box that was on the floor next to Beverly and Ben.  
Eddie put the movie inside the dvd player and sat down next to Richie, letting the boy hug him and pull him up onto his lap.  
Sitting on Richie's lap was always nice, since Richie was way taller than him. It was like letting a huge teddy bear wrap his arms around you and pull you into a warm hug for hours. Eddie sighed happily and rested his hands on Richie's thighs.  
The movie soon began and Eddie realized just how much he loved moments like this one; watching a movie with people you like and with your boyfriend and a pizza. Perfect.  
It was one of those moments you remember forever.

-  
The movie was slowly getting close to the ending, Richie literally sitting on the edge of his seat, with Eddie curled up close to his side, paying all his attention to the movie.  
Eddie assumed that it was Richie's first time watching it.  
Soon enough, the movie got to the scene where Sebastian and Mia were sitting in the Griffith park and talking about the future of their relationship, because Mia was about to leave to Paris for a long time.  
Eddie stared at the screen without moving, watching the scene where Mia tells Sebastian that she's always gonna love him, even if they won't share their future together. He suddenly felt the cold tears run down his cheeks, so he wiped them off quickly with the sleeve of his hoodie.  
After a couple minutes, the movie ended.  
Eddie sat on the couch, feeling absolutely speechless, the last scene of the movie made him cry again.  
He turned towards Richie, ready to hear some stupid joke from him, but what he didn't expect, was to see Richie wiping the tears off of his glasses, his eyes and nose a bit red from crying.  
Eddie really wasn't expecting Richie to cry.  
The ending was really sad, though.  
"Richie, are you crying?" Beverly asked in surprise. Ben looked a bit sad about the ending as well.  
"So what if I am?! That ending was fucking unfair! Why did they decide to make it so damn sad?!" Richie asked, his voice sounding a bit off, the tears still fresh on his cheeks.  
Eddie moved closer to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him.  
"I'm sorry, I wouldn't pick it if I knew it would make you this sad."  
Richie shook his head. "Nah, it's okay. I really liked it, the ending was just pretty unfair."  
"I personally think it wasn't a sad ending." Ben stated out of nowhere.  
Richie looked at him, his eyebrows raised.  
"Why do you think that?" Eddie asked curiously.  
Ben smiled and shrugged. "Well, both Sebastian and Mia were happy. Sure, they still loved each other, but they both moved on and had a nice life that they liked and they accepted it, you know? The fact that they just weren't supposed to be together." Ben explained, smiling at Beverly who gave him a thumbs up.  
Richie thought about it for a moment and then shook his head.  
"I still think it was a sad ending."  
Eddie smiled at Ben, who chuckled at Richie's response, and tightened his arms around Richie's waist, kissing his cheek to cheer him up.  
"Eds, can we just go to bed and sleep? I feel exhausted." Richie asked, holding Eddie's hand.  
"What? Already?!" Beverly looked at Richie in surprise. She expected him to watch at least another two movies with them.  
"Yup, sorry Bev. I'm just not really in the mood. At least you and Ben can have some privacy, hm?"  
Beverly smiled. That sounded nice.  
"You're right. That would be nice. Eddie, you okay with not watching another movie with us here?"  
Eddie nodded, standing up from the couch.  
"Yeah, I don't mind. I'm a bit tired too, so I'll go with Richie."  
Richie shot him a small smile and stood up as well, still holding his hand.  
Ben waved at them as they left the living room.  
"Goodnight, guys."

-  
Eddie climbed under the blanket with Richie and cuddled close to his body.  
"Thanks for going with me, Eds. I know how much you wanted to see Back to the Future. Another crush on the main character, huh?"  
Richie smirked and ruffled Eddie's hair.  
Eddie glared up at him.  
"Will you ever stop making fun of me and my crushes? It's getting pretty annoying, you know?"  
"Is it really?"  
"Yeah, a bit."  
"Was I right, though?"  
Eddie blushed and looked away.  
"Yeah, maybe you were."  
Richie laughed and pulled Eddie closer. "See? I'm amazing!"  
"Sure, whatever. It's still annoying."  
"Okay, I promise to stop forever."  
"Thank you."  
Richie smiled and kissed Eddie's cheek. "Anything for the love of my love."  
Eddie rolled his eyes at that, but his cheeks were pink.  
"You wanted to sleep, remember?"  
Richie chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. You're right. Let's sleep then."  
Eddie smiled, pulled Richie just a bit closer and kissed him. "Good night, Richie. I love you." Richie caressed Eddie's pink cheek.  
"Night, flowerboy. I love you the most."  
Eddie rested his face against Richie's chest, closing his eyes.  
He felt at peace when he was with Richie. Because the boy could talk for hours and come up with thousands and thousands of mom jokes, but when Eddie wanted some silence, Richie was capable of shutting up for him.  
And Eddie really appreciated that.

A few minutes went by when Richie decided to speak again.  
"Eddie?"  
"Yeah?" Eddie mumbled, his eyes still closed.  
"Are you awake? Can I ask you something?" Eddie opened his eyes and looked up at his boyfriend who seemed a bit worried.  
"Yes, Richie?"  
Richie thought for a moment and then finally asked.  
"Will we end up like Mia and Sebastian?"  
Eddie just stared at him. Did Richie feel that way? Was he really worried that much?  
Maybe Richie was right to be worried.  
Mia and Sebastian's relationship was pretty similar to theirs and Eddie really didn't want them to end up the same.  
What if they did, though?  
Fuck.  
And now Eddie was worried too.  
"I don't know." Eddie said the truth.  
Because he really didn't know.  
What if they did end up like that? He wasn't sure if he would even survive that. His heart wouldn't, that was for sure.  
"I don't want to end up like that. I don't want to lose you and then see you with someone else. With someone who will make you laugh the same way I used to."  
Eddie nodded, feeling his throat tightening a bit, his eyes dangerously close to filling up with tears.  
"I don't want that either."  
And then Eddie finally got it. He finally realized it.  
Maybe Richie wasn't crying during the movie because the ending was sad.  
Maybe he was crying because it hit close to home, because he realized how real that situation could be for them.  
Richie buried his face into Eddie's neck and sighed.  
"Why are we so lucky and unlucky at the same time?"  
Eddie shook his head and ran his fingers through Richie's soft hair to calm him down a little.  
"We'll figure something out, Richie. I'm sure we will."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!  
> thank you for waiting patiently for another chapter, this one took me a bit longer because i’m currently dying because of school and i just wasn’t in the mood to write.  
> thank you once again for reading and leaving nice comments, it means a lot to me! :) <3  
> hope you all enjoyed this chapter and had a great day! (:  
> also: don’t worry, Mike will be in the story as well!! :)  
> (and also i apologize that the names in their conversation weren’t in bold, ao3 won’t let me make the letters bold for some reason and i just don’t have enough energy to fix it)


	6. lollipops & broken hearts

**friday**

"Eddie? Are you going to school today?"

Beverly's soft voice brought Eddie out of his dreams and straight into reality.

He sat up and looked at Beverly all confused.

"What?" He asked with a sleepy voice while feeling pretty disoriented, since he woke up way too quickly.

Beverly chuckled and walked inside the room.

"I was just wondering whether you're going to school today or not. Because it's raining outside, so I though we could borrow my aunt's car and go together."

Eddie nodded and smiled, yawning.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going today. I have to."

Beverly smiled.

"Cool. We're leaving in an hour."

She closed the door behind her and that was the exact moment Eddie realized that Richie wasn't sleeping next to him.

That was weird.

It was pretty early in the morning and Richie wasn't exactly the biggest fan of getting up early, so why wasn't he sleeping next to him?

After brushing his teeth and putting on some clean clothes from his backpack, Eddie walked down the stairs into the kitchen to find Beverly sitting at the table and eating Lucky Charms. She smiled at him and waved with the cereal covered spoon.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty."

"Ha ha, very funny. Where's Richie?" Eddie asked curiously, taking a glass of orange juice. Beverly chuckled at Eddie's question and pointed towards the living room.

"He passed out in the living room. He's been watching TV the whole night, according to my aunt at least. She left to work at 4 am and he was still there."

"The whole night?"

"Yup. Watching cooking shows or whatever. He came back downstairs after you fell asleep last night, watched the last twenty minutes of Blade Runner with me and Ben, and then decided to watch some comedy show after we left upstairs."

"Isn't that weird? Why would he stay up all night?"

"I think he's just really sad that he has to leave so soon."

Eddie nodded and looked down at his shoes. "Yeah, he's not the only one."

Beverly sighed.

"I get it, to be honest. I mean, he's leaving tomorrow, so that's way too soon. I wish he could stay longer, it's gonna be boring here without him."

Eddie's eyes shot up quickly from his shoes to Beverly's face.

"What?! Richie's leaving tomorrow?"

No no no. That was way too soon.

"Yeah. Wait, he didn't tell you?"

Eddie shook his head, his eyes filling up with tears.

"I thought he was leaving on Sunday..."

Beverly stood up, walked up to Eddie and hugged him tightly, patting his back.

"Aw, I'm sorry. I know it's too soon."

Eddie buried his face into Beverly's shoulder and closed his eyes.

This whole distance thing was so unfair.

Eddie just wanted to punch something. Why was the world so cruel towards them? They loved each other, they shouldn't be dealing with stuff like this.

"This is so unfair, Bev."

"I know, Eddie. Look at me. Hey."

Beverly held Eddie's face in her hands and smiled at him.

"It will be okay, I promise. You two will make it work somehow, okay?"

Eddie stared at Beverly, her blue eyes making him calm, and nodded, a small smile appearing on his lips.

"Okay. Thank you, Beverly. You're amazing." Beverly smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

 

-

 

Eddie decided to stay at home with Richie instead of going to school. Spending time with the boy he loved, who was also leaving soon, was way more important to him than four boring classes with mostly rude teachers.

Coming up with an excuse for his mother shouldn't be too hard.

 

After Beverly left, he quietly walked into the living room and smiled when he found Richie sleeping on the couch, exactly as Beverly described.

He looked absolutely adorable. Half of his body was falling down from the couch, his arm over his face and his glasses tangled in his curly hair.

Eddie ran back into the kitchen, took his phone from the table, ran back into the living room and took a picture of Richie sleeping all funny and adorable, sending it to Beverly immediately.

 

Bev: lmao look at his glasses

 

Eddie: He looks so cute, Beverly.

 

Bev: haha yeah he does

 

Eddie sat down onto the edge of the couch and smiled to himself. He felt so lucky to be able to call Richie his boyfriend. Incredibly lucky.

"Eddie?" Richie mumbled sleepily, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Eddie who was smiling down at him.

"I'm sorry for waking you up."

Richie shook his head and smiled happily.

"Nah, you didn't wake me up. Come here, love."

Eddie swore his heart skipped a beat when Richie called him that, his cheeks heating up as he laid down into Richie's arms.

"Awww, did I make you blush?"

"Uh, no."

Richie chuckled and kissed Eddie's pink cheek, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him as close as possible to his chest.

"I can call you love more often if you'd like that. Because you just look so damn cute when you blush."

Eddie hid his face into Richie's hoodie and giggled when Richie ruffled his hair.

"Wait, weren't you supposed to go to school today?"

Eddie looked up at Richie, their eyes locking, and chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah, I originally planned to go, but being with you just seemed more important, you know?"

And damn, it was so worth it just for the way Richie looked at him after he said that. He stared at Eddie with so much love and adoration and fondness.

Eddie couldn't stop smiling as he leaned closer to Richie and kissed him slowly, enjoying the soft touch of his lips against his own.

"I love you, Eddie. Forever."

Eddie kissed him again, his warm hands placed on Richie's cheeks, pulling him closer.

"I love you too. So much."

And they kissed again, and again, and again. "Please stay here in Derry, stay here with me. I know this place sucks, and it's definitely not California, but just... please stay?" Eddie pleaded against Richie's lips.

And it was hard for Richie.

It was hard to tell the beautiful boy that he couldn't stay.

"I'll visit you again as soon as possible."

Eddie looked at Richie and pouted.

"Promise?"

Richie nodded and kissed Eddie again.

"Yeah, I promise."

 

They were both quiet for a moment, just staring at each other lovingly and thinking.

Richie spoke first. "So, what would you say to an adventure?"

Eddie raised his eyebrows.

"An adventure?"

"Yeah, we should do something fun before I leave. Something we'll remember for a long time."

"And what exactly do you have in mind?"

Richie thought for a moment. He wanted to come up with something great.

"Ha! We could get matching tattoos!"

"What?! You know my mother would kill me if I did that!"

"She won't kill you if she never sees the tattoo. It could be on your ankle or hip or something."

Eddie shook his head.

"Nuh-uh, I'm not getting a tattoo."

"Then I'm gonna get it alone."

"No, let's think of a better thing to do, okay?"

Richie sighed and sat up with Eddie on his lap.

"Okay, what about buying a lot of candy and going for a super long walk."

Eddie chuckled. "You really ran out of ideas, huh?"

"Are you kidding? This is the best idea. We could find some cool field or a forest or something and I'd take artsy photos of you while eating candy, that's the best fucking plan."

Eddie rolled his eyes and kissed Richie before standing up.

"Fine, let's go then."

 

-

 

"Richie, this is freaking embarrassing. I won't let you buy twenty packets of candy corn."

They were both standing in the candy aisle in Target, their shopping cart already full of different types of chips and cookies. Richie borrowed the car again, since Beverly's aunt came home from work before lunch.

"Why not?" Richie pouted. He really wanted all that candy corn.

Eddie laughed, taking the packets of candy out of their shopping cart.

"Because that's just too much. And I don't even like candy corn."

"You don't like candy corn?!" Richie asked in shock while putting the candy back into their cart.

Eddie shrugged. "I don't like the taste."

Richie shook his head in fake disappointment.

"What candy do you like then?"

Eddie thought about the answer for a longer second before replying with a smile on his face. "Lollipops. Cherry lollipops."

Richie smirked. Was his boyfriend even real? Just the thought of Eddie, in his pastel blue sweater and overalls, sucking on a lollipop made Richie feel a bit lightheaded.

"What? What did I do?" Eddie asked, absolutely confused as to why Richie was suddenly blushing with a smirk on his face.

Richie shook his head, took a handful of lollipops and put them into their cart.

"You're so cute, Eds."

It was Eddie's turn to blush this time.

Richie pushed their cart slowly through the long empty aisle, examining all the types of candy and putting a packet of chewing gum into the cart.

Eddie walked next to him, taking his hand and interlocking their fingers, because it felt good.

Richie was right. This was nice.

Just doing all the normal stuff; the kind of stuff you have to do daily and usually find it tiring. Even though buying food was such a boring activity, being with Richie made it almost an adventure.

 

-

 

They strolled side by side through the neighborhood after taking photos on the field for an hour.

Well, it was mostly Richie who was taking the pictures. It was nice. The nature outside and its many colors provided a pretty cool background for most of the photos.

They walked slowly, surrounded by silence, the kind of silence that isn't awkward. When you don't feel the annoying need to say something. Richie was eating his fourth packet of candy corn and Eddie was licking his third lollipop. Richie felt as if his eyes were sometimes drawn to Eddie's mouth.

Well, not just sometimes, more like the whole fucking day.

So what?! He was eighteen, puberty was still his worst enemy, and his beautiful boyfriend, who also liked to kiss and hug him a lot, was sucking on a fucking lollipop for hours without a stop now. As if he had some oral fixation.

How was he supposed to ignore all the inappropriate thoughts.

It was impossible. Richie knew how stupid it was. It was just a damn lollipop, he shouldn't act as if it was something... else.

Eddie didn't seem to notice the impact his actions had on Richie, as he was mindlessly licking the cherry lollipop with his red-colored tongue.

"Okay, is there something on my face or what?" Eddie finally asked when Richie's eyes were lingering on his face for too long.

Richie shrugged, his cheeks red.

"Nope."

Eddie looked confused.

"Then why are you staring at me?"

"No reason."

"Richie! You're such a shitty liar." Eddie found it a bit funny.

Whatever it was that made Richie blush, Eddie wanted to know.

Richie rolled his eyes and pointed towards the lollipop, his cheeks even redder.

"What? The lollipop? How is the lollipop making you blush, I don't underst—"

Oh.

Eddie stopped talking, suddenly realizing what this was all about.

"I'm sorry, I know it's awkward and weird and whatever." Richie quickly mumbled, looking away.

Why was this so awkward, why did he feel so awkward just because of some stupid innuendo.

They slept together, for fuck's sake. This whole thing wasn't supposed to be awkward anymore.

Eddie chuckled. "It's okay. I just find it kinda funny."

Richie looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Funny?"

Eddie smirked.

"Yeah, I find it funny that it only takes one freaking lollipop to turn you on. That's so weird."

Richie rolled his eyes again, but couldn't stop the smile on his face.

He hugged Eddie around his shoulders and pulled him closer.

"You know it's not nice to laugh at other people, Eds."

Eddie looked Richie dead in the eyes, took another lollipop out of his fanny pack,unwrapped it and put it into his mouth, watching with amusement how Richie's cheeks started to redden once again.

"Why are you like this, Eds. This is unfair." Richie protested.

Eddie shrugged with a smirk on his face and continued sucking on the cherry flavored candy.

They walked for another few minutes without talking, just holding hands.

"Can we go to your house?" Richie asked.

Eddie nodded.

"Yeah, just don't be a dick in front of my mother or else you're basically dead."

Richie chuckled and nodded in agreement."Sure. So, that means no swearing? Also, I'm feeling a bit offended, are you suggesting that I normally act like a dick?"

Eddie groaned and tried to playfully shove Richie away, but all he got in return was Richie kissing his cheek sloppily and ruffling his hair while laughing.

Eddie took the lollipop out of his mouth with a sigh, ready to have a serious chat with his boyfriend about the overuse of annoying and inappropriate jokes.

Richie took the chance quickly, grabbing the lollipop from his boyfriend's hand and putting it into his mouth.

Ha! Victory!

Eddie pouted.

"Richie, what the fuck? That was my lollipop. Fucking thief."

Richie laughed and bit into the lollipop, cracking it into two halves and eating them with the most obnoxious crunchy sound.

Eddie scrunched his nose. Why would Richie do that.

Richie chuckled at Eddie's expression of utter disgust.

"Aw, baby, did I make you cringe?"

Eddie shook his head.

"You're unbelievable."

Richie smiled and kissed Eddie's cheek again, leaving a sticky mark on his skin from the lollipop.

"But you still love me."

"Yeah, I do."

 

-

 

"Mom! Can my friend Richie stay over for some time, please? We have a lot of homework to do." Eddie called out as he entered his house, Richie following him and closing the door.

Eddie's mother walked into the hallway and looked at the two boys, Richie's dirty sneakers immediately catching her attention.

"Weren't you supposed to work on the project with that Uris boy?"

Eddie smiled and shook his head.

Quickly coming up with lies in front of his mother had always been easy for him.

"Stanley is sadly not feeling well today, so Richie is gonna help me instead. I don't want to catch the sickness from Stanley."

Eddie's mother eyed Richie up and down and then nodded.

"Alright, but not for too long."

Eddie nodded, took Richie by his arm and led him upstairs.

"Thanks, mom!"

 

Eddie closed the bedroom door behind them quickly and smiled.

"Well, that was easy."

"Your mom seems like a bit of a bitch."

Eddie chuckled.

"Yeah... I mean, she just worries about me way too much."

Richie sat down onto Eddie's bed and looked around his room.

Everything was clean and organized. Exactly as Richie expected.

"Wanna make out?" Richie suddenly blurted out of boredom, meaning it more as a joke than as a serious request.

Eddie shrugged and sat onto Richie's lap without thinking it through like he usually did.

Richie was taken aback for a second, because Eddie's warm brown eyes were too distracting, but came back to his senses quickly when Eddie leaned in and locked their lips.

He tasted awfully like cherries.

Fucking cherry lollipops.

Richie rested his hands on Eddie's waist, pulled him closer and kissed him back more roughly this time.

Eddie smiled into the kiss, his fingers running through Richie's curly hair. He tugged a bit at the soft curls, earning small sounds of pleasure from his boyfriend.

He liked that. A lot.

Eddie's red-colored tongue slipped between Richie's lips, making him tilt his head and open his mouth a bit more.

He liked the quick pace.

Richie tugged at the hem of Eddie's sweater, asking for permission to take it off. Apparently he liked taking everything quick too.

He couldn't wait, not after witnessing Eddie suck on that stupid lollipop for hours.

Eddie giggled against Richie's lips before he pulled away from him, only to unbutton his overalls and take off the sweater.

Richie smiled, taking off his own hoodie.

"Richie?" Eddie's voice sounded as if he was a bit out of breath.

"Yeah?" Richie asked, smiling happily, his fingers running slowly up and down Eddie's spine, making him shiver under his touch.

"I love you."

Richie leaned in and kissed him again.

"I love you too, flowerboy. And I want to make you feel good. Can I touch you more?"

Eddie nodded quickly, his cheeks heated up as he let Richie carefully push him down onto his back onto the soft mattress of his bed.

He closed his eyes as he felt Richie kiss his neck down to his collarbone and shoulder, wet lips grazing over his soft skin, biting lightly.

"Is this good?" Richie asked, looking at Eddie. Richie thought that Eddie looked as if he was brought to life straight from some renaissance painting. His brown curls all messy, his lips pink and wet, the light freckles on his nose and red cheeks, his eyes shut and a soft smile permanent on his pretty face.

"Yeah. Fuck. Definitely." He breathed out. Richie chuckled at the response and continued his trail of light kisses down Eddie's chest.

His lips got to the hem of Eddie's pants, his fingers tugging at the fabric as he looked up at his boyfriend, asking for permission. Almost begging.

Eddie was looking down at him, his eyes full of some unexplainable emotion that made Richie feel all warm inside.

"Can I?" Richie asked, tugging at the hem again.

Eddie nodded. "Yes, please."

Richie tugged the pants down to his ankles slowly, taking them off with Eddie's help and putting them onto the other side of the bed.

Eddie's fingers were back in Richie's hair, tugging lightly.

He thought about how good this felt. Having Richie so close, their bodies touching and making him feel all warm and happy.

Richie wrapped his hand around Eddie's ankle and lifted his leg just a bit. He leaned down, placing his lips on the soft skin of Eddie's inner thigh and leaving small kisses behind.

Fuck.

Eddie closed his eyes and tightened the grip on Richie's hair, recieving small sounds from him.

"You like that?" Richie grinned.

Eddie nodded vigorously, making Richie chuckle.

He propped himself up by placing his hand next to Eddie's head and leaned in, connecting his lips with his boyfriend's.

As he pulled away, Eddie placed his soft hand on Richie's cheek and smiled, staring up at him with complete adoration, almost a devotion. "Please stay here with me, Richie. I don't want to be alone. I don't want to be without you."

And Richie wanted the same thing, he really did, but he couldn't stay.

Instead of replying, he leaned in again and pressed his lips hard against Eddie's, because he just couldn't break his heart for the second time that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! thank you so much for waiting for an update, it means a lot to me!! <3 i'm very sorry that it took me so long to update and that it will take some time (maybe) to update again. i'm graduating this year (in may/at the end of may) and i just have so much work at school that i have absolutely no time to write (it sucks and i hate that, i'd love to write all the time). so that's why i don't update as much as i used to. thank you for understanding:) i'll try to update again asap! and then after i graduate i'll update all the time, i promise!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i’ve been working on this for ages and just finally decided to finish it and actually post it. hope you enjoyed it! :) next part coming soon, hopefully (if school doesn’t kill me lmao). <3


End file.
